THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


:\W£   .ir 


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« 


OF 


JAMES  G.  ELAINE, 

EMBRACING 

A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  CHILDHOOD  AND  YOUTH  ;  HIS  EDUCATION  ;  THE  BEGINNING  OF 
HIS  PUBLIC  CAREER;  HIS  RISE  AS  A  STATESMAN  ;  HIS  PART  IN  THE  ADMIN- 
ISTRATION OF  GARFIELD  ;  HIS  LITERARY  WORK,  AND  HIS  NOMI- 
NATION FOR  THE  PRESIDENCY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

TOGETHER  WITH  A  SKETCH  OF  THK  LIFE  OF 

GEN.  JOHN  A.  LOGAN, 

TO  WHICH  IS  ADDED 

A  Compendium  of  Political  Statistics  and  Information, 

INCLUDING 

LIVES  AND  ADMINISTRATIONS  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES;  HIS- 
TORY OF  ALL  POLITICAL  PARTIES  ;   TABULATED  SUMMARIES,  GIVING 
THE  STATISTICAL  FACTS  AND  FIGURES  CONNECTED  WITH 
EVERY  PRESIDENTIAL  ELECTION  ;  THE  WHOLE 
CONSTITUTING  AN  INVALUABLE 

VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 


By  JOHN  CLARK  RIDPATH,  LL.  D., 

Author  of  a  Popular  History  of  the  United  States,  Life  and  Work  of  Garfield,  etc.,  etc, 


WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION  BY  WM.  H.  ELAINE. 


MARTIN   GARRISON    &   CO. 

i;<>STON\  MASS:  -V,  ; 


COPYRIGHTED,  1884,  BY  JOHN  T.  JONES. 


PRBFACE. 


FOR  as  many  as  three  general  reasons  the  nomination  of 
JAMES  G.   ELAINE  for  the  Presidency  may  be  received 
with  great  satisfaction.     The  first  of  these  is   that   at  the 
Chicago   Convention  of  1884  the  Dark  Horse  folly  was  ef- 
«»  fectually,   let  us  hope  forever,    buried  out  of  sight.     As   a 
c/j  general  rule,  the  big  brained  men  have  been  kept  from  pre- 
«  ferment  under  our  political  system.     The  theory  which  the 
i   obscure   many  have  adopted   for   the    subordination   of  the 
illustrious  few  is  that  it  is  fatal  for  a  man  to  have  a  record. 
«l    He  must  be  great,  but  have  no  record.    He  must  be  eloquent, 
|Q  but  never  say  any  thing  ;  work,  but  never  do  any  thing  ;  lead, 
g  but  never  lead  any  thing.     On  several  occasions  in  our  polit- 
ical history  this  theory  has  prevailed  to  the  extent  of  thrust- 
g  ing  aside  the  great  Americans  to  the  end  that  some  obscure 
6  Accident  without  a  record  might  go  up  to  the  high  places 
I  of  power. 

It  might  be  invidious   to   specify  the   instances  in   our 

J  history   in  which    the    notion   that    unknown  mediocrity   is 

'  more  "  available "  than   genius   has  prevailed   over  common 

sense.     Time   and  again    we    have   witnessed  the  spectacle 

of  some  unheard-of  intelligence  stepping  into  the  arena  and 

carrying  off  the  wreath  which  patriotism  had  woven  for  the 


4  PREFACE. 

forehead  of  the  great.  At  last,  however,  the  reaction  has 
set  in,  and  as  a  consequence  the  Dark  Horse  droops  his  head. 
He  is  no  longer  admired.  It  is  doubtful  whether  he  will 
ever  again  be  an  object  of  interest.  His  stall  in  the  politi- 
cal livery  is,  for  the  time,  at  least,  abandoned,  and  it  is  not 
likely  that  the  crowds  will  ever  again  return.  For  this  re- 
sult the  Nation  is  indebted  to  the  steady  and  determined 
supporters  of  Mr.  Elaine  in  the  Chicago  convention.  They 
had  made  up  their  minds  that  the  great  Equus  niger  Amer- 
icanus  should  be  turned  to  grass,  and  that  the  man  with  a 
record  should  hereafter  be  preferred  to  the  political  Nobody. 
The  result  is  satisfying. 

In  the  second  place,  the  Chicago  convention  is  notable 
for  this,  that  the  grand  army  of  office-holders  has  gone  to 
the  rear ;  they  have  fallen  back  before  a  victorious  charge 
of  the  people.  There  is  no  doubt  that  for  a  time,  at  least, 
the  unorganized  masses  have  triumphed  over  the  organized 
cohort  of  officials,  determined  as  they  were  to  keep  them- 
selves in  power  forever.  One  of  the  most  dangerous  ten- 
dencies recently  exhibited  in  American  politics  has  been  the 
continuance  of  men  in  office  until  their  terms  have  run  be- 
yond the  usual  limit,  then  to  transfer  them  to  other  posi- 
tions in  the  service,  and  so  on  ad  infinitum. 

The  American  Government  does  not  belong  to  any  class 
of  men.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  is  a  government  of  the 
people,  and  is  intended  to  be  only  incidentally  beneficial  to 
those  who  are  in  office.  For  some  time  past  it  has  appeared 
that  the  opposite  theory  and  practice  were  about  to  prevail ; 
that  the  government  is  intended  to  be  a  government  of  the 
office-holders,  and  only  incidentally  beneficial  to  the  people. 


PREFACE.  5 

Against  the  latter  principle  the  Chicago  Convention  planted 
itself  defiantly,  victoriously.  In  that  body  the  officials 
were,  as  a  rule,  determined  to  compass  the  defeat  of  him 
who,  in  the  end,  proved  to  be  too  strong  for  their  battalion. 
The  office-holder  who  favored  the  nomination  of  Elaine  was 
a  bird  as  rare  as  his  plumage  was  fair.  Doubtless  the  Re- 
publican candidate  is  himself  a  politician,  skilled  in  all  the 
tactics  which  may  be  suggested  by  profound  originality  and 
varied  experience.  Doubtless,  too,  he  has  long  held  office, 
and  is  well  acquainted  with,  the  ways  by  which  the  office 
once  gained  is  kept.  Still  the  fact  stands  as  before,  that 
Mr.  Elaine  was  the  people's  man  at  Chicago,  and  that  the 
office-holders  of  the  country  were  against  him  almost  to  a 
unit.  The  people  for  once  won  the  battle,  and  the  victory 
has  become  in  some  sort  a  pledge  and  vindication  of  the 
principle  that  the  offices  of  the  Republic  do  not  belong  of 
prescriptive  right  to  the  occupants. 

In  the  third  place,  the  nomination  of  Elaine  marks  the 
reappearance  of  civic  abilities  in  the  high  places  of  the 
Nation.  It  was  inevitable  that  the  Civil  War  should  trans- 
mit to  the  American  people  a  vast  array  of  military  talent 
and  reputation,  not  specially  distinguished  for  skill  in  the 
management  of  the  state.  It  was  equally  inevitable  and 
perhaps  right,  that  the  people  should  for  more  than  two  dec- 
ades after  the  close  of  the  conflict  continue,  sometimes  at 
their  own  expense,  to  honor  those  who  had  defended  the 
Nation  with  their  lives  by  raising  them  to  high  office,  this 
without  an  over-scrupulous  regard  to  fitness.  But  it  was 
also  necessary  that  in  the  course  of  time  statesmanship,  a 
thing  withal  not  less  necessary  and  honorable  than  military 


6  PREFACE. 

heroism,  should  reassert  itself  in  the  conduct  of  public 
affairs.  It  remained  for  the  year  1884  to  witness,  not  indeed 
the  neglect  of  the  soldier,  but  the  vindication  of  the  citizen, 
and  the  recognition  of  his  rights  to  the  joint  honors  of  his 
country. 

Mr.  Elaine  is  a  civilian.  His  tremendous  influence  over 
the  opinions  and  actions  of  his  fellow-men  proceeds  wholly 
from  his  abilities  as  a  statesman.  Thoroughly  loyal  to  the 
soldier,  his  own  activities  have  been  exerted  in  the  manage- 
ment of  civil  affairs,  the  direction  of  legislation.  Albeit  no 
soldier  himself,  he  has  been  the  soldier's  champion  in  the 
arena  of  fierce  conflict,  and  has  won  for  the  defenders  of  the 
Union  victories  almost  as  renowned  as  those  which  they 
themselves  achieved  in  the  bloody  field  of  war. 

The  Republican  candidate  for  the  Presidency  has  a  tre- 
mendous hold  upon  the  affections  of  his  party  friends.  He 
is  popular.  It  is  not  to  be  denied  or  overlooked  that  his 
positive  and  aggressive  spirit  has  aroused  the  antagonism  of 
not  a  few  prominent  men  in  the  ranks  of  his  own  party.  It 
was  impossible  that  he  should  not  do  so ;  but  it  is  very 
hard  for  any  one  to  say  that  he  does  not  hold  Elaine  in 
high  respect.  Jfot  only  Republicans,  but  Democrats  as  well, 
have  as  a  general  rule  been  constrained  to  acknowledge 
this — the  sterling  qualities  of  the  Chicago  nominee  and  his 
great  strength  with  the  people.  It  was  the  peculiarity  of 
the  Democratic  notices  of  the  result  at  Chicago  that  very 
few  underrated  the  powerful  ticket  which  the  Republicans 
had  put  into  the  field.  This  sentiment  may  well  be  illus- 
trated in  the  following  extract  from  the  leading  editorial  in 
the  Cincinnati  Enquirer  of  the  7th  of  June  : 


PREFACE.  7 

"  The  idol  of  the  Republican  masses  has  achieved  a  most  decis- 
ive victory.  The  politicians,  tricksters,  manipulators,  and  profes- 
sional schemers  for  power  and  place  have  been  overthrown,  and 
the  man  of  the  people  chosen. 

"James  G.  Blaine  was  not  born  with  a  silver  spoon  in  his 
mouth.  As  a  boy  he  was  compelled  to  battle  with  poverty,  and  in 
the  hand-to-hand  struggle  with  life  had  to  push  aside  the  arro- 
gance which  wealth  invariably  begets  and  wears.  As  a  young  man, 
he  was  compelled  to  be  the  tutor  instead  of  the  spoiled  and  pam- 
pered pupil.  When  he  dared  to  enter  political  life,  he  was  met  by 
that  rascality  which  wealth  is  too  often  the  parent  of.  But  Mr. 
Blaine  always  maintained  a  steadfast  course,  and  to-day  he  is  the 
most  conspicuous  figure  and  the  strongest  man  in  his  party.  It 
must  be  conceded  that  he  is  the  most  capable  man  and  the  most 
thorough  master  of  politics  that  can  be  found  within  the  Republi- 
can hosts  to-day.  Blaine  is  a  statesman,  while  too  many  of  his 
contemporaries  are  merely  politicians.  Always  the  defender  of 
American  interests,  he  will  awaken  an  enthusiasm  that  no  other  man 
in  his  party  possibly  could. 

"The  means  by  which  certain  of  his  own  party  sought  to  com- 
pass his  defeat  were  of  the  vilest  and  most  vicious  character,  and 
naturally  have  fallen  harmless  upon  him.  To  the  unparalleled  lying 
of  a  few  of  the  daily  newspapers  and  the  low  caricatures  of  a  portion 
of  the  illustrated  press,  Mr.  Blaine  should  feel  much  indebted. 
The  magnanimity,  the  manliness  and  the  spirit  of  fair  play  which 
predominate  in  the  American  character  asserted  themselves  by 
awarding  the  victory  to  Blaine  in  answer  to  the  vile  attacks  which 
were  made  upon  him." 

Another  striking  circumstance  of  the  Chicago  Convention 
was  that  the  second  place  on  the  ticket  was  not  flung  away 
to  a  Nobody.  In  this  respect  the  delegates  exercised  great 
care  and  circumspection.  It  is  known  to  all  the  world,  that 
General  John  A.  Logan  made  a  strong  race  for  the  head  of  the 


8  PREFACE. 

course,  and  but  for  the  invincible  strength  of  Mr.  Elaine  might 
have  succeeded  in  gaining  the  coveted  position.  By  the  law  of 
fitness  General  Logan  was  precisely  the  man  to  name  for  the 
Vice-presidency.  His  brilliant  record  as  a  soldier  of  the 
Union  is  happily  balanced  against  the  equally  brilliant  rec- 
ord of  Elaine  as  a  civilian.  There  is  just  enough  of  un- 
likeness  in  the  men  to  give  great  strength  to  the  combina- 
tion. The  "team"  is  as  strong  as  their  coupled  names  are 
euphonious. 

Such  are  the  principal  sources  of  interest  in  the  Repub- 
lican standard-bearers  of  1884.  Added  to  these  is  the  ex- 
citing fact  that  the  pending  election  is  in  the  very  nature 
of  things  destined  to  be  a  close  and  hot  encounter,  and  the 
other  fact  that  presidential  elections  in  the  United  States 
always  attract  the  closest  attention  of  the  people  and  a  pro- 
found interest  in  their  candidates. 

These  reasons  are  sufficient  for  opening  to  American 
voters,  especially  to  those  of  the  Republican  faith,  an  account 
of  the  lives  and  deeds  of  their  favorite  leaders. 

j.  c.  R. 


CONTENTS. 


INTRODUCTION. 
PARTIES    AND    PARTISANS. 

Value  of  freedom. — Necessity  thereof  in  Republican  form  of  Govern- 
ment.— Laborers  and  wages.  — Free  vs.  pauper  labor.  — Advantage  of 
parties. — The  Republican  party  in  particular. — Protection  to  American 
industry — A  party  of  the  people. — Democracy  anarchic. — The  attempt 
to  destroy  the  Union.  —  The  Democratic  regime.  —  Responsibility  of 
Democratic  leaders. — The  Party  revolutionary. — Attitude  of  the  Democ- 
racy in  1860. — What  a  party  is. — The  present  Democratic  organization. — 
Americanism  and  Republicanism  synonymous. — Should  the  Government 
remain  under  Republican  control? Pages  17-32 


Life  and  Public  Services  of  James  G.  Elaine. 

CHAPTER  I. 

TYPICAL  MEN  OF  THEIR  EPOCH. 

Scarcity  of  genius. — The  ancient  Greek. — Charlemagne. — His  work. — 
Washington. — His  character  and  deeds. —  Lincoln. — His  place  in  his- 
tory.— Henry  Clay. — His  greatness. — Distinguished  men  of  the  present. — 
Elaine  in  particular, Pages  33-40 

CHAPTER  H. 

JAMES   GILLESPIE   ELAINE. 

Birth  and  parentage. —  Ephriam  and  Ephriam  L.  Blaine. —  The 
mother. — Early  training. — Anecdotes. — Preparation  for  college. — Blaine 
as  a  student. — A  teacher. — Professor  in  military  institute. — Marries  Miss 
Stanwood. — Removes  to  Maine. — Career  as  journalist. — Takes  up  poli- 
tics.— Elected  to  Congress. — Three  times  Speaker. — Senator. — Secretary 
of  State. — Candidate  for  presidential  nomination,  in  1876  and  1880. — 
Personal  appearance. — Magnetic  qualities. — Elaine's  vote  in  '76. — Also 
in  '80.— The  four  ballots  at  Chicago  in  1884— Nominated,  .  Pages  41-54 


10  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTEK  III. 

THE    REPUBLICAN    LEADER. 

Elements  of  Elaine's  leadership. — Relations  to  Garfield's  administra- 
tion.— Necessity  of  vigor  in  the  presidential  office. — Protection  to  the  bal- 
lot.— Republican  lease  of  life. — Qualities  of  Elaine's  mind. — Likeness  to 
Clay. — Democratic  free  trade. — Elaine's  jealousy  of  foreign  influence. — 
Heads  the  party  of  progress. — Extract  from  his  "Twenty  Years  in  Con- 
gress."— Testimony  of  a  former  pastor  to  Elaine's  integrity,  Pages  55-64 

CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  REPUBLICAN   NOMINATIONS. 

The  eighth  National  Republican  Convention. —  Description  of  the 
great  hall. — The  personalities. — Mahone. — The  Clayton-Lynch  contest. 
George  William  Curtis. — Lynch. — Kellogg. — Phelps. — The  delegations. — 
The  women. — Sabin  opens  the  convention. — Lynch  temporary  chair- 

.. — His  speech. — Routine, Pages  65-80 


man 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE   REPUBLICAN    NOMINATIONS. 

The  second  day. — Ladies  and  Resolutions. — Hawkins. — Knight. — 
Curtis  again. — Henderson  for  permanent  chairman. — His  speech. — Shall 
we  support  the  nominee  ? — The  veterans  want  in. — More  resolutions  and 
speeches, Pages  81-90 

CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  REPUBLICAN   NOMINATIONS. 

The  committee  on  credentials  report. — The  platform. — Evening  ses- 
sion.—  The  nominating  speeches. —  Enthusiasm  for  Elaine. —  Ready  for 
,the  crisis, Pages  91-98 

CHAPTER  VII. 

THE   REPUBLICAN   NOMINATIONS. 

Fourth  day.— First  ballot.— Second  ballot.— Third  ballot.— Fourth 
ballot  and  Elaine.  —  Uproar  over  the  result. —  More  speeches. —  Eve- 
ning session. — Nomination  of  Logan. — An  infinity  of  oratory. — Votes  of 
thanks,  and  adjournment  sine  die, Pages  99-124 


CONTENTS.  11 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE  PRESS  AND  THE  PEOPLE. 

What  Storrs  had  to  say  about  it. — And  the  New  York  Tribune. — 
And  the  Chicago  Tribune. — The  Cincinnati  Commercial  Gazette. — And 
Murat  Halstead. — The  Philadelphia  Times. — The  Boston  Journal. — The 
Philadelphia  Ledger. — The  Philadelphia  Press. — The  Philadelphia  In- 
quirer.— The  Providence  Star. — And  the  St.  Louis  Call. — The  St.  Louis 
Democrat. — And  the  Washington  Republic. — And  a  hundred  others. — 
Mrs.  Garfield  sends  a  dispatch. — The  people  for  Blaine,  especially  in  Re- 
publican States. — Likeness  of  Clay  and  Blaine,  .  .  .  Pages  125-159 

CHAPTER  IX. 

BLAINE   IN  PUBLIC   LIFE. 

Able  men  in  Congress. —  Integrity  and  strength. —  Moral  power  in 
politics. — State  of  the  country  when  Blaine  entered  the  House. — Ag- 
gressive men  then  demanded. —  Leaders  in  '63. — Amendments  to  the 
Constitution. — Elaine's  early  aspirations. — Speaks  for  Maine. — On  the 
Conscription  bill. — "What  the  government  owes  its  subjects." — On  the 
Greenback  question. — Elected  Speaker. —  His  speech  on  taking  the 
chair. — Receives  the  thanks  of  the  House. — Re-elected. — Speaks  again. — 
Debates  with  Ben.  Butler. — And  then  a  third  time. — Valedictory. — 
The  Democrats  in  power. — Elaine's  speech  on  amnesty  and  pensioning 
Jeff.  Davis. — Discusses  the  Currency  question,  .  .  .  Pages  160-223 

CHAPTER  X. 

BLAINE   IN    PUBLIC    LIFE. CONTINUED. 

Blaine  is  appointed  Senator. — Opposes  the  electoral  commission. — 
Antagonizes  the  Southern  policy  of  Hayes. — Speaks  on  the  silver  dol- 
lar.— Address  on  the  Halifax  fishery  award. — Advocates  the  purity  of 
elections. — Views  on  the  tariff. — Discusses  Jefferson  Davis  again. — The 
use  of  troops  at  the  polls. — Blaine  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency. — 
Beaten  at  Chicago. — In  Garfield's  cabinet. — Retires,  .  Pages  224-275 

CHAPTER  XI. 

BLAINE   IN    PUBLIC    LIFE. CONTINUED. 

Reminiscences  of  the  Plumed  Knight. — Anecdotes  of  his  school 
days.  —His  life  at  the  capital. — At  home  in  Augusta. — Political  scandals 


1 2  CONTENTS. 

and  their  refutation. — Harper's  Weekly  in  particular. — Public  speeches. — 
The  currency  question  at  Biddeford. — Cooper  Institute  speech. — Elaine 
is  officially  notified  of  his  nomination. — Frye's  speech  in  the  convention 
of  1880, Pages  276-301 


Logan,  the  Soldier  Statesman. 

. 

CHAPTER  XII. 

OUTLINE. 

Value  of  biographies. — Birth  and  early  life  of  Logan. — Education. — 
Election  to  office. — Sent  to  Congress. — A  soldier  of  the  Union. — At 
Belmont.  — Donelson.  —  Corinth.  —  Vicksburg.  — Commands  the  Fif- 
teenth Army  Corps. — A  part  of  the  "  Snapper." — South  of  Atlanta. — 
In  command  of  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee.  —  Jonesboro.  —  Flint 
River. — Returns  to  Congress. — Makes  his  mark. — Succeeds  Yates  in 
the  Senate, Pages  302-307 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE   SOLDIER  STATESMAN. 

Outbreak  of  the  war. — Davis's  treasonable  speech. — South  Carolina 
secedes. — The  Confederate  Government  organized. — Logan's  previous 
military  career. — A  loyal  Democrat. — Resigns  his  place  in  Congress. — 
Colonel  of  the  Thirty-first  Illinois. — Gallantry  at  Belmont. — Services  at 
Henry  and  Donelson. — Wounded  before  Vicksburg. — At  Kenesaw. — 
Death  of  McPherson. — Ought  to  command  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee. — 
His  heroism. — Exploits  beyond  Atlanta. — Bravery  at  Jonesboro. — High 
estimation  among  the  officers  of  the  army. — His  care  of  the  men. — 
Stumps  Illinois  for  Lincoln. — -Farewell  address  to  the  Army  of  the  Ten- 
nessee,   Pages  308-331 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

IN    THE    COUNCIL. 

Logan  a  Republican. — Speaks  on  Democratic  principles. — His  loyalty 
to  General  Grant. — Advocates  placing  the  latter  on  the  retired  list. — 
Opposes  the  restoration  of  Fitz  John  Porter. — His  great  address  on  that 
question. — The  arrogance  of  the  Confederacy  at  the  beginning  of  the 
war. — Logan's  courage. — Anecdote  of  his  heroism  before  Atlanta. — His 
composure  in  battle, Pages  332-364 


CONTENTS.  13 

PART  II. 


HISTORY  OK  POLITICAL 

Necessity  of  party  spirit.  —  Free  government  sustained  thereby.  —  Two 
parties  necessary  in  a  republic.  —  Genealogy  of  the  Democracy.  —  First 
division  of  political  parties  in  our  country.  —  Federalist  and  Anti-Feder- 
alist. —  Condition  of  affairs  under  Jefferson  and  Madison.  —  The  Era  of 
Good  Feeling.  —  The  election  of  Adams.  —  Jackson's  relations  to  party 
history.  —  Van  Buren  appears  in  the  horizon.  —  The  father  of  modern 
Democracy.  —  Harry  of  the  West.  —  Van  Buren  and  Clinton.  —  The  party 
in  power  usurps  the  name  Democratic.  —  Jackson's  military  and  civil 
career.  —  Puts  his  friends  in  office.  —  His  methods  and  principles.  —  Hos- 
tility to  the  bank.  —  Van  Buren  succeeds  to  the  Presidency.  —  Whigs  and 
Democrats.  —  One  term  of  Van  Buren  enough.  —  The  Sub-treasury  bub- 
ble. —  Brief  triumph  of  the  Whigs.  —  Tyler's  political  defection.  —  Princi- 
ples of  the  Whigs.  —  Polk  shoots  up  to  the  Presidency.  —  Birth  of  the  Re- 
publican party.  —  Its  cardinal  principle.  —  James  Buchanan.  —  Democracy 
in  secession.  —  The  party  revolutionary.  —  And  half  treasonable.  —  Democ- 
racy, ancient  and  modern.  —  The  party's  responsibility  for  various  here- 
sies. —  Secession  among  the  number.  —  Bayard  as  a  mouth-piece.  —  Stephen 
A.  Douglas.  —  Career  of  the  Republican  party,  .  .  .  Pages  365—400 


Policy  of  protection.  —  Its  first  assertion.  —  Is  it  retaliatory?  —  Great 
Britain  would  keep  the  American  Colonies  hi  commercial  dependence.  — 
Various  acts  of  the  House  of  Commons.  —  Jealousy  of  the  mother  coun- 
try on  account  of  our  manufactures.  —  Anxiety  of  the  board  of  trade  to 
abolish  all  American  enterprise.  —  Acts  of  1732  and  1750.  —  The  stamp 
act  a  part  of  the  system.  —  The  Revolution,  and  afterwards.  —  Anxiety  of 
Great  Britain  to  keep  our  country  dependent.  —  We  should  produce,  and 
she  should  manufacture.  —  Our  rising  industry.  —  Calhoun's  tariff  of 
1816.—  Ruin  of  1817-20.—  Henry  Clay  arises.—  Tariff  of  1824-28.— 
Great  Britain  still  active  to  keep  us  down.  —  She  becomes  the  benevolent 
evangelist  of  free  trade.  —  Sly  Mr.  Bull.  —  Parliament  would  fain  govern 
America.—  Tariff  of  1842-64.—  Robert  J.  Walker.—"  A  tariff  for  reve- 
nue only,"  ...............  Pages  401-416 


14  CONTENTS. 


OK  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

GEOEGE  WASHINGTON. — Birth  and  ancestry. — Education. — French 
and  Indian  war. — Washington's  marriage. — In  the  House  of  Burgesses. — 
His  modesty. — Stands  firm  for  colonial  liberty. — In  Congress. — Com- 
mander-in-chief of  the  army. — His  diffidence. — Goes  to  the  field — Dor- 
chester Heights. — Enters  Boston. — Retreat  across  the  Jerseys. — Trenton 
and  Queenstown. — Chad's  Ford. — Valley  Forge. — Treason  of  Arnold. — 
France  to  the  rescue. — Yorktown. — Washington  and  the  Constitution. — 
Elected  President. — His  administration. — Troubles  in  his  cabinet. — Un- 
popularity of  his  measures. — Relations  with  Great  Britain. — The  Jay 
treaty. — Treaty  with  Spain. — Farewell  Address. — Death,  Pages  417-434 

JOHN  ADAMS. — Birth  and  education. — Marriage. — Opposes  the  stamp 
act. — A  writer. — Sent  to  Congress. — Nominates  Washington. — On  com- 
mittee of  Declaration. — Sent  to  France — Minister  to  England. — Vice-pres- 
ident.— President. — Retires. — Old  age  and  death,  .  .  Pages  435-439 

THOMAS  JEFFERSON. — Birth  and  childhood. — Education. — A  law- 
yer.— Enters  public  life. — Marries. — A  Democratic  patriot. — In  the  Bur- 
gesses.— In  Congress. — Writes  the  Declaration. — Secures  the  revision  of 
the  statutes  of  Virginia. — Governor. — In  Congress. — His  measures. — 
In  Paris. — Secretary  of  State. — President. — Death,  .  Pages  439-447 

JAMES  MADISON. — Birth  and  education. — Early  entrance  into  public 
life. — Services  in  Congress. — Aids  in  the  formation  of  the  Constitution. — 
Again  in  the  Virginia  Legislature. — Marries. — Secretary  of  State. — 
President. — His  Administration. — Death,  ....  Pages  447-450 

JAMES  MONROE. — Birth  and  education. — In  the  Revolutionary  army. — 
In  the  Virginia  Legislature. — In  Congress. — Marries. — Again  in  the 
Virginia  assembly. — In  the  Senate. — Minister  to  France. — Governor  of 
Virginias — Negotiates  the  purchase  of  Louisiana. — Minister  to  Great 
Britain. — Again  Governor  of  Virginia. — Elected  to  the  Presidency. — 
Events  of  his  administration. — Retiracy  and  death,  .  Pages  450-455 

JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS. — Birth  and  youth. — In  Europe. — Extensive 
education. — Literary  abilities. — Esteemed  by  Washington. — Minister  to 
Holland  and  Portugal. — And  Berlin. — In  the  Massachusetts  Senate — In 
Congress. — Professor  in  Harvard. — Plenipotentiary  to  Russia. — Minister 
to  Ghent. — And  St.  Petersburg. — And  St.  James. — Secretary  of  State. — 


CONTENTS.  15 

And    President. — His  administration. — Re-elected  to  the  House. — The 
old  man  eloquent. — Death, %    .     .     .     Pages  455-463 

ANDREW  JACKSON. — Birth  and  boyhood. — Lad  of  the  Revolution. — 
A  soldier  at  fourteen. — Battle  of  New  Orleans. — Seminole  war. — Hangs 
Arburnot  and  Armbrister. — Governor  of  Florida. — Candidate  for  the 
Presidency. — Beaten  by  the  House — Elected  in  1828. — His  administra- 
tion.— Devoted  to  the  Union. — Dies  at  78,  .  .  .  .  Pages  464-470 

MARTIN  VAN  BUREN. — Birth  and  education. — Lawyer  and  politi- 
cian.— Judge  and  Senator. — Secretary  of  State. — Minister  to  England. — 
Elected  President. — Beaten  for  re-election. — Death,  .  Pages  470-472 

WILLIAM  HENRY  HARRISON. — Birth  and  education. — Enters  the 
army. — At  Fort  Washington. — Governor  of  Indiana. — Elected  to  Con- 
gress.— President. — Inaugurated  and  dies,  ....  Pages  472-474 

JOHN  TYLER. — Succeeds  to  the  Presidency. — His  youth. — In  Con- 
gress.— Governor  and  Senator. — Breaks  with  the  Whigs. — President  of 
the  Peace  Congress. — A  Confederate  Senator. — Death,  .  Pages  474-475 

JAMES  KNOX  POLK. — Birth  and  youth. — Education. — Congress- 
man.— A  conservative. — Speaker  of  the  House. — Governor  of  Tennes- 
see.— Elected  President. — His  administration. — Dies,  .  Pages  476-477 

ZACHARY  TAYLOR. — Birth  and  education, — A  soldier. — In  the 
Florida  war. — In  command  on  the  Rio  Grande. — At  Palo  Alto  and 
Buena,Vista. — Elected  President. — Dies  in  office,  .  .  Pages  477—479 

MILLARD  FILLMORE. — Succeeds  to  the  Presidency. — Birth  and  educa- 
tion.— A  lawyer  and  Whig. — Elected  Vice-president. — His  administra- 
tion.— Re-nominated  and  beaten. — Death,  ....  Pages  479-481 

FRANKLIN  PIERCE. — Birth  and  education. — Lawyer  and  legislator. — 
United  States  Senator. — In  the  Mexican  war. — Elected  President. — 
Events  of  his  administration. — Death,  .  .'-*...  Pages  481-483 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. — Birth  and  education. — Minister  to  Russia.— 
Senator. — Secretary  of  State. — Minister  to  England. — President. — His 
administration. — Retirement  and  death, Pages  483-485 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. — Birth  and  boyhood. — Farmer  and  captain. — 
Lawyer. — In  the  Legislature  of  Illinois. — A  lover  of  freedom. — Debates 
with  Douglas. — Nominated  for  the  Presidency. — Elected. — Policy  of 


16  CONTENTS. 

Lincoln. — His   greatness    during    the    conflict. — Re-elected. — Assassin- 
ated.— Summary  of  his  character, Pages  486-498 

ANDREW  JOHNSON. — Birth  and  youth. — Tailor  and  Mayor  of 
Greenville. — In  the  State  Senate. — Elected  to  Congress. — In  the  United 
States  Senate. — Military  Governor  of  Tennessee. — Elected  Vice-presi- 
dent.—Succeeds  to  the  Presidency. — Death,  ....  Pages  498-500 

ULYSSES  SIMPSON  GRANT. — Birth  and  education. — In  the  Mexican 
war. — In  the  Union  army. — In  Tennessee. — Major-general. — His  career 
in  the  war. — Nominated  for  the  Presidency. — Elected. — Administration. — 
Re-elected. — His  tour  of  the  world. — In  private  life,  .  Pages  500-503 

RUTHERFORD  BIRCHARD  HAYES. — Birth  and  education. — A  lawyer. — 
In  the  Union  army. — Wounded  and  promoted. — A  representative  in  Con- 
gress.—Three  times  Governor  of  Ohio.— Elected  President.— So  said  the  elec- 
toral commission. — His  administration. — In  private  life,  .  Pages  503-506 

JAMES  ABRAM  GARFIELD. — Birth  and  youth. — Enters  public  life. — 
A  soldier  of  the  Union. — Elected  to  Congress. — Senator  of  the  United 
States. — President. — Assassinated, Pages  506-508 

CHESTER  ALLAN  ARTHUR. — Succeeds  to  the  Presidency. — Birth  and 
education. —  A  lawyer. —  Quartermaster -general. —  Collector  of  New 
York. — Removed  by  President  Hayes. — Elected  Vice-president. — His 
administration,  .  , Pages  508-510 

THE  REPUBLICAN  PLATFORM, 511-516 

NOMINATING  SPEECHES, 517-528 

POLITICAL  STATISTICS. — 

Summary  of  popular  and  electoral  votes,         .         .         .  529-531 

Popular  vote  of  1880  and  1876,           ....  532 

Electoral  vote  of  1880, 533 

Presidents  and  their  cabinets,      .         .         .         .         .  534-538 

Public  debt  of  the  United  States, 538-539 

Qualifications  of  voters,      ......  539 

Apportionment  of  representatives  in  Congress,         .         .  540 

Aggregate  issues  of  paper  money  in  wars,  .         .         .  540 

Population  of  the  United  States  by  races  in  1880,  .         .  541 

Citizenship  with  a  total  male  population  in  1880,       .  542 

ELAINE'S  EULOGY  ON  GARFIELD,          .        .        ...        .     543-560 


INTRODUCTION. 


By  WILLIAM  H.  ELAINE. 


"  The  greatest  glory  of  a  free-born  people 
Is  to  transmit  that  freedom  to  their  children." 

HAVAKD. 

PARTIES    AND    PARTISANS. 

FREEDOM  is  a  blessing.  In  servitude,  no  race  of  men 
was  ever  prosperous  or  happy.  Life,  liberty,  and  the 
pursuit  of  happiness  are  the  guarantees  of  free  government. 
If  all  men  are  created  equal,  then  these  blessings  should  be 
equally  guaranteed  to  all.  Certainly,  every  man,  woman, 
and  child  beneath  the  American  flag  should  be  protected  in 
their  enjoyment. 

In  speaking  of  freedom,  we  do  not  mean  license.  The 
first  is  the  desire  and  the  pride  of  the  good  man;  the  sec- 
ond the  boast  of  the  bad.  It  is  the  just  remark  of  a  mod- 
ern writer  that  the  coveted  liberty  of  a  state  of  nature 
exists  only  in  a  state  of  solitude.  In  every  kind  and  degree 
of  union.,  and  intercourse  with  his  species,  it  is  possible  that 
the  liberty  of  the  individual  may  be  augmented  by  the  very 
laws  which  restrain  it;  because  he  may  gain  more  from  the 
limitation  of  other  men's  freedom  than  he  suffers  from  the 
diminution  of  his  own.  Natural  liberty  is  defined  as  the 
right  of  common  upon  a  waste;  civil  liberty  is  the  safe,  ex- 
clusive, unmolested  enjoyment  of  a  cultivated  inclosure. 

The  fourth  article  of  the  Constitution  declares  that  "  the 

2  17 


1 8  INTROD  UCTION. 

% 

United  States  shall  guarantee  to  every  State  in  this  Union 
a  republican  form  of  government."  But  there  can  be  no  re- 
publican government  until  every  citizen  of  the  United 
States  is  protected  in  every  right  guaranteed  by  the  Con- 
stitution and  the  laws.  American  slavery — so  far,  at  least, 
as  its  legality  is  concerned — is  a  thing  of  the  past.  It  was 
destroyed  by  the  civil  war,  and  we  have  gone  through  the 
form  of  conferring  political  privileges  upon  the  freed  people; 
but  have  we  adequately  protected  them  in  the  exercise  of 
these  privileges  ?  Have  we  placed  them  in  a  position  to  assert 
civil  and  political  rights  equal  to  those  enjoyed  by  the  domi- 
nant race  ?  Evidently  not.  It  is  true  that  in  many  localities 
the  people  of  color  vote,  and  their  votes  are  honestly  returned. 
In  other  localities  it  is  only  the  form  of  voting — the  shadow 
without  the  substance — for  the  ballots  of  the  colored  popu- 
lation are  thrown  out  of  the  count,  as  was  discovered  at  the 
South  in  1876;  and  in  still  other  places  the  colored  man  is 
not  permitted  to  vote  at  all,  unless  he  deposits  the  ballot 
prepared  for  him  by  his  employer,  or  some  one  equally 
posted  in  public  affairs.  If  we  seek  to  benefit  the  colored 
man,  these  irregularities  should  be  promptly  reformed. 

The  privilege  of  engaging  in  remunerative  toil  is  one  of 
the  blessings  of  freedom  which  ought  to  be  highly  appre- 
ciated in  the  United  States.  In  this  country,  wages  are 
high.  They  are,  and  they  ought  to  be,  higher  than  in  any 
other  country  of  the  world.  The  reason  is,  that  the  labor- 
ers of  this  country  are  the  country  itself.  The  vast  pro- 
portion of  those  who  own  the  soil  cultivate  their  own  acres. 
The  proprietors  are  the  tillers — the  laborers.  But  this  is 
not  all.  The  citizens  of  our  country  are  part  and  parcel  of 


INTRODUCTION.  19 

the  government.  Such  a  state  of  things  exists  nowhere 
else  upon  the  face  of  the  globe. 

If  we  desire  to  maintain  free  government,  we  must 
see  to  it  that  labor  with  us  is  not  put  in  competition 
with  the  ignorant  pauper  labor  of  Europe.  Our  men  who 
labor  have  families  to  maintain,  to  educate,  and  fit  for  the 
responsible  duties  of  freemen.  They  have  sons  to  fit  for 
the  discharge  of  the  manifold  duties  of  life;  they  have  a 
responsible  and  intelligent  part  to  act  for  themselves  and 
their  connections.  And  is  labor  like  this  to  be  reduced  to  a 
level  with  that  of  the  half-fed,  half-clothed,  ignorant,  de- 
based, dependent  wage-serfs  of  the  great  part  of  Europe? 
America  must  then  cease  to  be  free  and  independent. 
Her  government  must  then  be  taken  from  the  hands  of  the 
people ;  for  t^ey  would  be  unfit  to  rule,  if  reduced  to  the 
condition  which  free  trade  would  make  inevitable.  What 
would  the  free  traders  give  us  in  return  for  our  republican 
institutions?  But  it  is  scarcely  necessary  to  ask.  The  re- 
sources of  all  the  world  are  too  poor  to  afford  an  equivalent 
exchange  for  them.  Free  trade  is  inimical  to  our  best  de- 
velopment, to  our  independence,  and  to  the  very  genius  of 
republicanism.  It  should  be  stamped  out  of  all  our  politics 
as  a  pestiferous  heresy. 

The  predominant  interests  of  our  countrymen  are  involved 
in  the  issue  of  great  and  oft-recurring  political  contests. 
These  contests  are  always  of  prevailing  concern,  at  times 
all-absorbing;  and  the  leading  intellects  of  the  country,  so 
long  as  our  institutions  shall  happily  remain  free,  must  be 
largely  devoted  to  the  discussion  of  questions  pertaining  to 
the  management  of  the  national  government.  As  the  coun- 


20  INTRODUCTION. 

try  progresses  in  extent  and  increases  in  population  and 
wealth,  these  questions  are  becoming  more  varied  and 
complicated. 

The  necessity  for  new  measures,  and  for  the  enlarged 
application  of  established  principles  to  meet  the  exigencies 
of  the  times,  demand  constant  action  upon  the  part  of  those 
to  whom  the  people  have  committed  their  most  sacred  affairs, 
and  the  formation  of  parties  assuming  antagonistic  positions 
upon  these  matters  is  a  necessary  result  aside  from  the 
inducements  to  division  arising  from  personal  ambition,  cu- 
pidity, and  love  of  place  and  power,  which  are  found  mixed 
up  with  all  human  interests.  Of  such  organizations,  numer- 
ously existing  or  constantly  springing  up,  the  greater  part 
are  indeed  of  a  local  nature,  or  grow  out  of  temporary  ex- 
citements ;  two,  however,  embrace  all  the  rest,  and  mainly 
divide  the  commonwealth.  These  great  organizations  are 
born  of  different  elements,  exist  by  different  means  and  in 
a  different  atmosphere.  In  every  thing  of  vital  concern 
their  relation  by  principles,  policy,  practice,  is  that  of  natu- 
ral, unavoidable  opposition. 

That  to  whose  principles,  policy,  and  practice  we  have 
devoted  special  attention  in  the  following  pages,  is  the  real 
party  of  progress  and  improvement.  It  commends  itself  to 
the  people  and  is  supported  by  them,  not  less  for  its  stead- 
fast and  unyielding  loyalty  to  the  nation — for  its  unwaver- 
ing support  of  constitutional  and  established  rights,  and  its 
endeavors  to  preserve  law.  liberty,  and  order  inviolate — 
than  for  the  ameliorating  and  liberalizing  tendency  of  its 
principles  and  policy.  In  all  that  tends  to  give  strength  to 
the  Union,  and  knit  together  its  various  sections  by  the  in- 


INTRODUCTION.  21 

dissoluble  bands  of  a  common  interest  and  affection,  the 
REPUBLICAN  PARTY  occupies  the  advance,  and  proposes  to 
maintain  it. 

Protection  to  the  laborer  and  the  producer,  to  the  merchant, 
the  manufacturer,  and  the  agriculturist;  integrity  and  econ- 
omy in  the  discharge  of  official  trusts ;  the  vigilant  defense, 
as  against  the  world,  of  national  dignity  and  honor;  the  ob- 
servance of  good  faith  in  all  our  dealings  with  and  treatment 
of  other  nations ;  the  maintenance  of  a  sound  currency ;  an 
extension  of  the  resources  of  the  country  by  the  construc- 
tion of  harbors,  the  improvement  of  water-ways,  and  assist- 
ance to  other  means  of  commerce  as  the  wants  of  the  people 
demand ;  a  vigorous  administration  of  the  laws ;  the  separa- 
tion of  the  seats  of  justice,  by  all  possible  barriers,  from 
popular  impression ;  the  general  promotion  of  knowledge  and 
an  enlargement  of  the  means  of  education ;  the  reservation 
of  the  public  lands  for  the  use  of  actual  settlers ;  the  protec- 
tion of  every  citizen  in  the  enjoyment  of  life,  liberty,  and 
the  products  of  his  own  hand  and  brain, — these  form  an  out- 
line of  the  distinctive  principles  of  the  Republican  party ;  by 
these  and  other  cognate  sentiments  and  measures  it  is  known 
and  celebrated,  and  will  be  known  to  the  remotest  posterity. 

It  is  distinctively  the  party  of  the  people,  and  when 
the  personal  rivalries  and  partisan  asperities  of  the  day 
shall  have  been  forgotton,  and  the  mellowing  hand  of  time 
shall  have  consigned  to  the  future  only  the  virtues  of  the 
present,  the  positions,  the  aims,  and  the  glorious  achieve- 
ments of  the  Republican  party  will  stand  out  like  watch- 
towers  and  beacon-lights  upon  the  most  elevated  points  of 
history,  and  be  referred  to  and  quoted  as  monuments  to 


22  INTRODUCTION. 

inspire,  as  precedents  to  guide,  another  race  of  statesmen 
and  patriots;  and  whatever  it  may  now  do,  the  world  will 
then  acknowledge  the  moral  heroism  of  those  who,  doubtless 
with  some  defects  and  some  temporary  mistakes,  withstood 
in  their  day  the  assault  of  treason  armed  and  determined, 
the  tide  of  corruption,  the  insidious  arts  of  demagogues, 
and  the  clamors  of  faction,  and  taking  their  stand  upon  the 
platform  of  the  Constitution,  defended  the  honor,  the  integ- 
rity, the  very  life  of  their  country,  from  open  and  secret 
assault,  and  preserved  to  their  countrymen  the  inestimable 
blessings  of  a  free  government. 

The  other  great  political  division  is  essentially  anarchical 
in  its  principles  and  tendencies.  In  saying  this  we  would 
not  be  understood  as  denying  to  the  great  body  of  its 
members  their  claim  to  sincerity;  for  the  mass  of  the 
people,  whatever  may  be  their  predilections,  and  however 
erroneous  their  views,  are  unquestionably  sincere  and  honest 
in  their  professions.  Whatever  the  pretensions  of  their 
leaders  may  be,  they  are  practically  working  to  destroy  the 
prosperity  of  the  country,  to  corrupt  the  morals  of  the 
people,  to  weaken  the  authority  of  law,  and  utterly  to  change 
the  primitive  elements  of  the  government,  precisely  as  they 
worked  for  these  ends  twenty-five  years  ago.  Had  they  the 
power,  they  would  yield  to  the  South  its  once  desired  Con- 
federacy, with  all  the  name  implies,  provided  the  South 
would  receive  it.  These  are  grave  charges,  but  they  are 
substantiated  by  the  record  and  by  living  evidence. 

There  is  an  unhappy  and  imperishable  part  of  our  na- 
tional history  which  convicts  the  leaders  of  this  antagonistic 
party  of  a  systematic,  determined,  and  long-continued 


INTRODUCTION.  23 

attempt  to  dismember  and  destroy  the  American  Union. 
Larger  ability  for  destruction  was  all  they  needed  to  insure 
its  downfall.  Professing  an  exclusively  democratic  creed,  and 
pretending  to  entertain  an  earnest  desire  to  advance  the 
greatest  good  of  the  greatest  number,  every  period  of  the 
dominancy  of  this  party  in  the  government  was  signalized 
by  wide-spread  ruin  and  distress,  as  plainly  as  the  smolder- 
ing pile  and  the  ravaged  field  ever  marked  the  course  of  an 
invading  army. 

A  profligate  waste  of  the  public  treasure ;  a  general  de- 
pression in  all  the  various  branches  of  business  and  enter- 
prise; the  country  without  a  currency  at  all  equal  to  its 
wants;  depreciation  of  nearly  every  species  of  property;  a 
denial  to  the  people  of  their  only  safe  means  of  securing  an 
adequate  market  for  the  products  of  the  soil,  cheating  hon- 
est industry  of  its  rewards;  a  dishonorable  treatment  of 
public  creditors ;  a  blind  obedience  to  party  dictation,  in 
which  the  voice  of  conscience  is  stifled,  and  patriotism  and 
the  eternal  principles  of  right  and  justice  thrown  aside  as 
worthless  considerations;  a  corruption  of  the  elective  fran- 
chise; the  civil  power  defied  and  the  military  degraded; 
countenance  and  support  to  organized  revolutionary  parties 
acting  in  direct  hostility  to  the  laws,  and  in  subversion  of 
all  government ;  the  basest  perfidy  toward  foreign  nations ; 
the  boldest  disregard  of  the  most  sacred  trusts, — these  acts 
and  consequences  have  attached  themselves  to  and  distin- 
guished the  party  which  has  strangely  arrogated  to  itself  the 
title  of  DEMOCRATIC — as  if  democracy  consisted  not  in  level- 
ing up  and  preserving,  but  in  reducing  all  things  to  an 
equality  of  faithlessness,  degradation,  and  ruin. 


24  INTRODUCTION. 

Practical  errors  of  individuals  or  of  nations  are  com- 
paratively of  little  consequence.  They  are  of  the  present 
and  may  be  retrieved.  They  belong  to  history,  and  their 
effects  become  weaker  with  remoteness  in  the  past.  It  is 
the  elements  native  to  the  character,  the  ineradicable  prin- 
ciples and  tendencies,  that  are  of  abiding  concern.  And 
these,  with  the  leaders  of  the  Democratic  party,  appear  to 
us  subversive  of  all  correct  principles  and  thoroughly  perni- 
cious. The  rank  and  file  of  the  party  are  led  on  by  delu- 
sive cries,  they  know  not  well  to  what;  but  discerning  men 
can  not  fail  to  see  that  they  are,  in  different  ways,  according 
to  different  sections  of  the  country,  practically  working  to 
relax  the  whole  spirit  of  law  among  us,  to  disorganize  and 
change  the  original  frame-work  and  proportions  of  our 
government,  and  under  the  deceptive  name  of  advancement, 
descending  in  a  rapid  progression  to  schemes  of  evil.  There 
is  scarcely  any  dangerously  radical  opinion,  any  specious, 
delusive  theory  upon  social,  political,  or  moral  points,  which 
does  not  in  some  part  of  the  country  find  its  peculiar  ali- 
ment and  growth  among  the  heterogeneous  elements  of  this 
party. 

They  are  not  content  with  sober  improvement,  but  desire 
a  freedom  larger  than  the  Constitution.  They  have  a  feel- 
ing that  the  very  fact  an  institution  has  long  existed,  makes 
it  insufficient  for  the  growth  of  the  age — for  the  wonderful 
demands  of  the  latter-day  ripping  up  and  tearing  down.  In 
a  word,  revolution  with  them  is  progress,  and  the  more 
destructive  the  greater  the  advance.  Whenever  the  mad- 
dened voice  of  faction  or  the  mercenary  designs  of  party 
leaders  demand  a  triumph  over  established  institutions  and 


INTRODUCTION.  25 

rightful  authority,  they — the  party — rush  blindly  but  exult- 
ingly  forward,  and  call  it  "  reform."  They  have  always 
shown  themselves  ready  to  set  aside  the  most  solemn 
covenants  upon  a  bare  change  of  majorities.  In  some  sec- 
tions of  the  country  they  have  exhibited  :i  marked  hostility 
to  useful  corporations,  even  to  the  crying  down  institutions 
of  learning  as  aristocratic  monopolies.  They  have  always 
been  disposed  to  make  the  stability  of  legislation  dependent 
upon  the  dominancy  of  a  party,  and  to  consider  the  law  of 
the  landvas  having  no  majesty,  no  authority,  no  divine  force 
inherent  in  itself;  as  not  a  great  idea  enthroned  among 
men,  coeval  with  Eternal  Justice — which  feeling  alone  can 
keep  it  from  being  trampled  under  foot  of  the  multitude — 
but  as  derived  from  and  existing  by  the  uncertain  sanction 
of  the  popular  will.  And  in  all  this  they  are  not  merely 
loosening  the  foundations  of  order  and  good  government,  as 
they  did  in  the  act  of  secession ;  they  are  paving  the  way — 
or  would,  if  they  could — first,  to  anarchy ;  then  to  despotism. 
Such  is  the  natural  tendency  of  the  Confederate  notions  they 
fought  for  once,  and  to  which  they  are  ready  to  sacrifice  the 
country  whenever  they  obtain  control  of  the  government. 
We  are  well  aware  of  the  serious  character  of  this  ar- 
raignment; but  it  is  a  true  bill.  The  Democratic  party 
during  the  past  twenty-five  years  has  resorted  to  the  most 
desperate  trickery  that  political  bankruptcy  could  suggest — 
to  the  cunning  of  the  mountebank,  the  delusions  of  the 
stock  gambler,  and  conditional  promises  of  empire  to  the 
sworn  enemies  of  the  government.  Trained  in  a  disci- 
pline which  regards  politics  as  an  arena,  not  a  battle-field, 
and  dealing  with  its  conflicts  as  mere  prolusions  of  arms, 


26  INTRODUCTION. 

and  not  an  honest  and  serious  warfare;  bred  in  a  school  of 
absolute  political  skepticism,  where  anything  or  nothing 
may  be  professed  for  the  time  being,  to  answer  the  demand 
of  the  hour,  they,  one  and  all,  leaders  and  followers,  masters 
and  disciples,  demagogues  and  dupes,  regard  a  political  cam- 
paign as  merely  a  game  of  skill  and  chance,  in  which  the 
spoils  of  office  are  the  highest  stake  at  risk,  and  when  they 
are  lost,  Democratic  grief  is  comfortless. 

The  great  leader  of  the  Democratic  party  in  1859-60, 
interposed  no  serious  objection  to  an  unconditional  surren- 
der of  the  government  into  the  hands  of  the  Secessionists, 
and  our  armory,  our  military  chest,  and  many  of  our  im- 
portant defenses,  were  betrayed  to  them  in  a  spasm  of  weak- 
ness and  treachery  beyond  the  descriptive  power  of  words; 
but  they  were  unquestionably  devoted  to  some  promised 
advantage  to  the  Democratic  cause.  The  situation  brought 
about  by  this  treason,  this  surrender  to  the  slave  power,  was 
unparalleled  in  all  history.  It  bred  throughout  the  country 
a  political  pestilence,  temporarily  enfeebling  to  the  nation,  but 
apparently  surcharged  with  vitality  for  the  embittered  fol- 
lowers of  Davis,  Vallandigham,  Toombs  &  Co.  How  is  it 
possible  to  brand  deep  enough  the  infamy  of  this  act,  which 
was  so  full  of  woe  to  free  institutions,  and  so  imperiling  to 
the  beneficent  dominion  of  constitutional  government?  It 
was  the  murderous  devotion  of  the  results  of  our  first  cen- 
tury of  independence  to  the  fire  and  sword  of  faction,  the 
judgment  of  traitors,  the  mercy  of  spoilsmen.  Faction  is 
the  proper  term.  The  Democratic  party  merged  itself  into 
secession  as  naturally  as  ever  the  purwiggy  merged  into  the 
batrachian,  and  then  it  found  its  true  level  in  faction. 


INTR  OD  UCTION.  2  7 

Let  us  explain.  A  party  is  an  organized  union  upon  the 
basis  of  a  principle  or  a  system  of  principles,  and  proposes 
the  good  of  those  it  represents.  Opposing  parties  differ  in 
their  principles,  and  of  course  in  their  measures,  but  agree 
in  their  objects — the  common  weal.  A  faction  confines  its 
aims  and  objects  within  itself;  "its  be  all  and  its  end  all" 
is  self-aggrandizement.  Factions,  then,  are  as  much  the 
foes  of  popular  government  as  parties  are  its  ministers  and 
defenders.  The  generous  spirit  of  party,  vehement  though 
it  be,  invigorates  and  warms,  cherishes  and  sustains,  the 
whole  fabric  of  the  State.  The  gnawing  tooth  of  faction 
corrodes  every  prop,  and  exhausts  every  spring  of  public 
prosperity.  It  venerates  nothing  whose  destruction  seems 
to  promise  the  success  of  its  schemes,  and  opposes  nothing, 
however  criminal  it  may  be,  which  bids  fair  to  assist  the 
realization  of  its  hopes.  Little  parties  operating  within  nar- 
row limits,  dealing  with  small  interests,  and,  of  necessity, 
somewhat  confounding  public  and  personal  concerns,  are 
constantly  in  danger  of  sinking  into  factions;  but  the  dig- 
nity, amplitude,  and  diversity  of  the  elements  which  make 
up  the  character  and  the  substance,  the  soul  and  the  body, 
of  a  great  national  party,  had,  up  to  twenty-five  years  ago, 
been  supposed  to  present  sufficient  obstacles  to  a  general 
degradation  of  its  objects  and  a  universal  profligacy  in  its 
means  and  measures.  But  such  general  degradation  and 
universal  profligacy,  when  they  once  thoroughly  obtain  in  a 
powerful  party  of  an  empire  or  a  State,  augur  a  lamentable 
decay  of  public  virtue  in  many  of  the  leading  minds  of  a 
people,  and  a  coldness  of  patriotism  in  its  common  mass, 
which,  unchecked,  must  precipitate  its  ruin.  This  is  what 


28  INTRODUCTION. 

they  threatened  for  the  Union  of  these  States,  when  the  Dem- 
ocratic party,  or  faction,  assumed  the  position  of  bottle- 
holder  for  the  solid  South;  and  had  there  been  no  Repub- 
lican party  in  1860,  to-day  there  would  be  no  United  States 
upon  the  American  continent!  And  we  would  have  had 
no  one  to  thank  or  criticise  for  its  absence  but  the  so-called 
Democratic  party. 

It  is  of  interest  to  inquire  as  to  what  this  Democracy 
has  busied  itself  in  and  about  since  1860,  and  what  its  po- 
sition is  at  the  present  time.  During  the  civil  war,  it 
exerted  its  best  talents  to  help  the  enemies  and  discourage 
the  friends  of  the  Union.  Its  disciples  at  the  North  were 
the  most  despicable  traitors  a  country  ever  harbored — spies 
in  the  camp  of  the  Union — and  at  the  South  they  were 
destroying  the  lives  of  the  Nation's  defenders,  hoping 
through  their  destruction  to  drain  the  life-blood  of  the  gov- 
ernment. Since  the  war,  they  have  resolved  themselves 
into  the  old  factional  condition  taught  by  previous  experi- 
ence ;  but  having  no  question  of  slavery  to  bank  upon,  no 
Fugitive  Slave-law  to  discuss,  no  Dred  Scott  Decision  to 
celebrate,  no  Kansas  and  Nebraska  Bill  to  resolve  about, 
they  have  been  forced  into  a  mere  negative  position  upon 
every  question  except  the  protective  tariff,  upon  which  their 
partisans  in  the  various  sections  of  the  country  adhere  to 
every  variety  and  shade  of  doctrine  yet  discovered  by  civ- 
ilized man.  What  the  real  "  democracy  "  of  the  question  is, 
seems  quite  past  finding  out. 

The  great  plank  of  their  platform  is  Democracy  in  the 
Abstract,  not  embodied  in  any  system  of  principles,  nor  yet 
shaped  into  any  project  of  measures,  and  not  even  incar- 


INTRODUCTION.  29 

nate  in  the  form  of  any  man,  since  the  self- withdrawal  from 
public  view  of  the  lamented  Tilden.  If  the  factional  Democ- 
racy has  its  will,  the  omnipotence  of  the  "popular  element" 
will  be  illustrated  and  established  in  the  approaching  cam- 
paign beyond  all  cavil;  for  out  of  nothing  it  will  create 
something.  The  right  and  the  capacity  of  the  people  to 
choose  their  own  rulers  will  be  vindicated  by  the  extremest 
test  requiring  them  to  vote  for  (1),  Abstract  Democracy; 
(2),  Abstract  Availability;  (3),  Abstract  Spoils.  If  they 
declare  this  to  be  their  platform,  they  will  prove  the  po'sses- 
sion  of  more  honesty  than  they  have  exhibited  at  any  time 
in  the  past  quarter  century ;  for,  seriously  and  truthfully,  it 
is  all  they  would  have  to  go  upon.  And  they  would  like 
to  realize  upon  this  soon  as  possible  ! 

The  American  flag  is  the  banner  of  the  Republican  party. 
By  the  Republican  party  has  it  been  preserved,  and  its 
bright  stars  kept  untarnished  and  undimmed.  Through  blood 
and  anguish  the  Republican  party  made  it,  twenty  years  ago, 
the  flag  of  the  freedman. 

The  motto  of  the  Republican  party  is,  "  JS  Pluribus 
Unum"  It  is  theirs  by  right  of  conquest.  Without  their 
aid  it  would  have  been  erased  from  the  great  seal.  With- 
out their  prowess  and  good  judgment,  it  would  long  ago 
have  become  inapplicable  to  the  great  seal,  and  practically 
meaningless  to  Americans. 

Is  there  a  citizen  of  the  United  States  who  does  not  ap- 
preciate the  benefits  and  blessings  of  our  free  government? 
What  is  it  now  as  compared  with  its  condition  under  the 
administrations  of  Pierce  and  Buchanan?  Then  it  was 
weak,  timid,  anarchical.  Now  it  is  strong,  self-assured,  and 


30  INTRODUCTION. 

united.  From  1852  to  1860  it  passed  through  eight  years 
of  desperate  feud  and  faction,  and  then,  weak,  crippled,  and 
despairing,  it  was  surrendered  into  the  hands  of  the  Repub- 
licans. We  respectfully  request  the  obliging  reader  to 
peruse  the  history  of  our  country  for  the  past  thirty-two 
years,  and  then  decide  whether  he  wishes  the  control  of  the 
government  to  remain  with  the  Republican  party,  or  whether 
he  is  willing  to  turn  it  over  to  the  political  executors  of 
that  faction  which  disregarded  its  covenants  and  mangled 
its  integrity. 

W.  H.  BLAINE. 


ANNOUNCING  iTHE  RESULT  OF  THE  FOURTH  BALLOT. 


CALIFORNIA  AND  MAINE  DELEGATES  EN  ROUTE  TO  AUGUSTA. 


LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 


JAMES  G.  ELAINE 


CHAPTER  I. 

TYPICAL  MEN  OF  THEIR  EPOCHS. 

"  Great  men  stand  like  solitary  towers  in  the  city  of  God,  and  secret 
passages  running  deep  beneath  external  nature  give  their  thoughts  inter- 
course with  higher  intelligences,  which  strengthens  and  consoles  them, 
and  of  which  the  laborers  on  the  surface  do  not  even  dream." 

LONGFELLOW. 

r  I  ^HERE  is  a  curious  sentiment  of  Lavater,  that  the  pro- 
JL  portion  of  genius  to  the  vulgar  is  like  one  to  a  million ; 
but  genius  without  tyranny,  without  pretension,  that  judges 
the  weak  with  equity,  the  superior  with  humanity,  and 
equals  with  justice,  is  like  one  to  ten  millions.  We  can  not 
look  upon  a  really  great  man  without  advantage  to  our- 
selves. The  more  we  study  him,  the  greater  will  be  our 
profit  from  the  observation,  from  knowledge  of  his  methods, 
deeds,  and  results.  For  us  the  man  of  the  epoch  is  the 
living  light -fountain,  which  it  is  good  and  pleasant  to  be 
near;  the  light  which  enlightens  the  dark  places  of  the 
world  and  the  gloom  of  human  hearts;  and  this,  not  as  a 
kindled  lamp  only,  but  rather  as  a  natural  luminary,  shin- 

3  «J«J 


34  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

ing  by  the  grace  of  God ;  a  brilliant  light-fountain  of  native 
original  insight,  of  manhood  and  heroism,  in  whose  radiance 
all  minds  are  cheered  and  ennobled.  In  the  world's  records 
the  names  of  such  are  few,  but  the  history  of  some  is  inter- 
leaved with  the  annals  of  those  times  called  "  barbaric,"  and 
of  the  dark  ages,  and  even  then  they  sowed  the  seeds  of 
that  civilization  which  has  fructified  in  the  liberal  enlighten- 
ment of  the  present  day. 

From  the  era  of  the  great  prophet,  who  saw  in  the  burn- 
ing bush  that  which  the  mind  of  man  is  powerless  to  com- 
prehend, and  whence  the  first  great  promise  of  human 
emancipation,  mental  as  well  as  physical,  was  received, 
down  through  all  the  circling  years,  through  the  crumbling 
of  empires  and  the  downfall  of  States,  through  the  sorrows 
of  war,  pestilence,  and  cruel  wrong,  as  well  as  sometimes 
through  the  brief  sunlight  of  triumph  and  joyfulness,  down 
to  the  era  of  Lincoln,  who,  for  truth  and  a  better  manhood, 
died,  not  alone  for  his  country,  but  for  the  holy  cause  of 
liberty  to  the  world,  there  have  lived  men  in  every  age 
who  have  stamped  its  achievements  and  its  laws  with  the 
indelible  impress  of  their  genius.  With  them  success  has 
followed  upon  the  heels  of  every  effort ;  steadfast  well- 
doing has  brought  them  renown  and  the  highest  favor ;  and 
their  names  are  enrolled  upon  the  register  of  the  centuries 
in  a  form  as  imperishable  as  history.  Their  deeds  are  sub- 
stantially the  history  of  the  time  in  which  they  lived — cer- 
tainly the  most  instructive  part  of  it.  How  much  interest 
would  the  history  of  the  eighth  century  elicit  from  the 
reader  of  to-day,  were  the  achievements  of  Charlemagne — 
that  master-mind  who  laid  the  first  solid  foundation  for  a 


TYPICAL  MEN  OF  THEIR  EPOCHS.  35 

permanent   system   of    Christian    government    and    institu- 
tions— omitted  from  its  details? 

He  was  the  author  of  many  of  the  laws  and  the  ardent 
promoter  of  the  best  elements  of  civilization.  Succeeding 
to  an  empire  torn  by  intestine  feuds,  he  checked  its  turbu- 
lence with  vigor  and  address,  compelled  the  recognition  of 
national  law,  inspired  a  wide  circuit  of  Europe  with  a  com- 
mon interest  and  common  objects,  and  led  men  to  pursue 
these  interests  and  maintain  these  objects  with  collective 
counsel  as  well  as  with  united  resources  and  efforts.  He 
founded  the  original  of  all  royal  societies  and  academies, 
and  was  the  first  to  combine  in  one  military  monarchy  a 
feudal  nobility,  a  somewhat  free  commons,  and  a  kind  of 
constitutional  assembly  of  States.  He  is  justly  regarded  as 
the  father  of  the  modern  policy  of  Europe,  and  has  claims 
which  are  universally  acknowledged  to  the  regard  and  vener- 
ation of  the  ages  which  have  benefited  from  his  doings  and 
his  life.  The  world  dates  a  new  era  from  his  wise  and  be- 
neficent reign.  Insensibly  it  may  be,  but  surely,  his  spirit 
pervades  the  thoughts  and  politics  of  all  modern  nations, 
teaching  them,  by  precept  and  example  which  can  not  be 
too  highly  esteemed,  how  best  to  pursue  the  gradual  paths 
of  an  aspiring  change. 

The  American  student  of  men  possesses  a  higher  arche- 
type of  nobility  for  his  imitation  than  any  of  those  em- 
balmed in  ancient  story.  It  was  our  good  fortune  to  begin 
the  active  life  of  this  government  under  the  guidance  of 
Washington — a  man  whose  highest  point  of  honor  was  loy- 
alty to  his  country  and  his  God;  whose  judgment  was 
ripened  by  the  most  arduous  experience  in  the  struggle  for 


36  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

independence ;  whose  intelligence  was  comprehensive  and 
admirably  adapted  to  the  exigencies  of  his  administration. 
Every  word  of  high  encomium  yet  applied  to  man  belongs 
to  him,  for  in  his  eyes  duty  was  the  law  of  every  correct 
life ;  duty,  the  upholding  principle  through  which  the  weak- 
est become  strong ;  without  which  all  strength  is  unstable 
as  water.  He  believed  that  the  conviction  of  duty  implies 
the  soundest  reason,  the  strongest  obligation  of  which  our 
nature  is  susceptible,  and  while  "  he  stood  firm  before  the 
thunder,  he  yet  worshiped  the  still  small  voice."  Duty  is 
the  prompting  of  conscience.  Washington  was  a  conscien- 
tious man,  and  his  intelligence  directed  conceptions  of  duty 
to  heroic  deeds.  The  auspicious  occasion  assisted  him,  but 
any  occasion  for  the  exercise  of  heroism  would  have  proved 
equally  auspicious.  Patriotism,  nobility,  and  soldiership  are 
all  synonyms  of  duty,  and  these  qualities  culminated  in  his 
life.  He  was  the  man  of  the  eighteenth  century,  as  was 
Charlemagne  of  the  eighth — not  so  much  by  force  of  his 
genius,  as  by  his  purity  and  trustworthiness.  He  was  faith- 
ful in  small  things  as  well  as  in  great.  Every  talent  con- 
ferred upon  him  was  put  to  the  best  possible  use.  He  fol- 
lowed the  dictates  of  conscience,  whichever  way  they  led. 
"  Honest,  truthful,  diligent,"  were  the  insignia  of  his  creed. 
His  best  products,  as  are  those  of  all  deliberate  men,  were 
happy  and  sanctifying  thoughts,  which,  when  once  formed 
and  put  in  practice,  are  capable  of  extending  their  fertilizing 
influence  for  thousands  of  years,  and  from  generation  to  gen- 
eration. But  the  life  of  Washington  has  been  so  often  writ- 
ten that  it  is  unnecessary  in  this  place  to  refer  to  it  further 
than  to  point  out  the  thorough  conscientiousness,  the  self- 


TYPICAL  MEN  OF  THEIR  EPOCHS.  37 

sacrificing  spirit,  the  purity  of  motive  with  which  he  entered 
upon  and  carried  out  to  completion  the  liberation  and  inde- 
pendence of  his  country.  No  man  could  be  more  pure,  no 
man  more  self-denying.  In  victory  he  was  self-controlled ; 
in  defeat,  unshaken.  Throughout  he  was  magnanimous  and 
pure.  In  his  life  it  is  difficult  to  learn  which  to  admire 
most  ardently,  the  nobility  of  his  character,  the  firmness 
of  his  patriotism,  or  the  purity  of  his  conduct ;  but  the  com- 
bination made  him  a  man  of  divine  temper,  and  "take  him 
for  all  in  all,"  it  is  not  to  be  expected  that  we  shall  look 
upon  his  like  again. 

Lincoln  was  of  another,  but  not  less  heroic  mold.  His 
greatness  was  morally  gigantic  and  unexplainable. 

"Ev'n  to  the  dullest  peasant  standing  by, 
Who  fasten'd  still  on  him  a  wondering  eye, 
He  seem'd  the  master-spirit  of  the  land." 

He  was  incomparable,  and  his  character  and  achievements 
more  difficult  of  analysis  than  those  of  any  American  in 
history.  The  great  charms  of  the  man  were  his  honesty, 
geniality,  and  faithfulness,  and  these,  thank  God  !  will  always 
remain  the  pre-eminent  charms  of  poor  humanity ;  but  we 
must  not  forget  that  Lincoln  encountered  obstacles,  assumed 
duties,  and  conquered  impediments  which  were  entirely  new 
to  every  American  citizen  previous  to  his  time.  Difficulties 
and  calamities  sharpened  his  apprehension,  and  called  into 
activity  all  the  faculties  of  his  powerful  intellect.  His  mind 
was  brightest  in  disaster — most  alert  under  defeat.  It  is 
thought  probable  that  Madame  de  Maintenon  would  never 
have  mounted  a  throne  had  not  her  cradle  been  rocked  in  a 
prison.  So  with  hundreds  who  have  risen  to  greatness. 

461443 


38  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

There  was  needed  something  in  their  path  to  surmount  be- 
fore they  could  rise  to  the  gaze  of  the  world.  Difficulties 
are  a  mere  stimulus  to  men  like  Lincoln,  supplying  the  disci- 
pline which  greatly  assists  their  onward  and  upward  course. 
He,  like  thousands  of  great  men  before  him,  was  a  disciple 
of  Plato,  but,  perhaps,  unconsciously  so ;  at  any  rate,  he  fol- 
lowed the  advice  of  that  wonderful  philosopher,  "  Let  men 
of  all  ranks,  whether  they  are  successful  or  unsuccessful, 
whether  they  triumph  or  not,  let  them  do  their  duty  and 
rest  satisfied."  But  the  qualities  of  the  man  most  difficult 
of  analysis  were  those  which  compelled  the  admiration  and 
respect  of  the  civilized  world;  which  conquered  the  preju- 
dices of  political  opponents,  and  commanded  the  love  of  all 
who  knew  him  personally.  Said  a  Virginian,  who  had 
called  upon  him  at  the  prompting  of  idle  curiosity :  "  I  be- 
lieve he  is  the  greatest  man  in  the  world.  When  I  went 
there  I  expected  to  find  a  fellow  to  make  fun  of,  but  I  'm 
the  one  to  laugh  at.  He  knows  more  about  my  State  than 
I  do,  and  I  was  born  in  Old  Virginia,  and  thought  I  knew 
all  about  her.  When  I  told  him  I  was  a  Democrat,  he 
smiled  and  said  some  of  his  best  friends  were  troubled  with 
the  same  disease,  but  he  supposed  they  could  n't  help  it. 
After  it  had  run  its  course  he  thought  they  would  come  out 
all  right,  if  they  lived.  We  had  a  hearty  laugh,  and  he  asked 
me  to  call  whenever  I  came  to  Washington.  I  tell  you,  if 
all  radicals  were  like  him,  I  'd  be  one  myself." 

This  incident  appears  simple  in  the  reading,  but  it  illus- 
trates the  power  of  Lincoln  over  every  mind  with  which 
he  came  in  contact.  And  this  is  the  power  no  one  has 
yet  attempted  to  analyze,  although  some  observers  call  it 


TYPICAL  MEN  OF  THEIR  EPOCHS.  39 

"  personal  magnetism,"  and  seem  content  without  explana- 
tion. It  was  possessed  in  a  large  degree  by  Henry  Clay, 
and  attracted  the  people  toward  him  like  the  obedient  steel 
which  turns  "forever  to  the  pole.  Garfield  had  the  same 
power  in  a  degree  which  remains  a  wonder  to  his  friends ; 
and  Elaine  is  endowed  with  it  beyond  precedent  or  example. 
It  is  the  magnetism — if  that  is  the  proper  term — of  intel- 
lectual supremacy;  the  regality  of  mind  which  is  apparent 
to  the  world,  but  of  which  the  possessor  is  unconscious; 
which  can  not  result  from  instruction,  but  is  self-creative, 
and  springs  up  under  every  disadvantage.  It  works  its  sol- 
itary but  irresistible  way  through  all  obstacles,  while  nature 
seems  to  delight  in  disappointing  the  assiduities  of  art,  with 
which  it  would  rear  dullness  to  maturity ;  and  to  glory  in  the 
vigor  and  luxuriance  of  her  chance  productions.  She  scat- 
ters the  seeds  of  genius  to  the  winds,  and  though  some  may 
perish  among  the  stony  places  of  the  world,  and  some  may 
be  choked  by  the  thorns  and  brambles  of  early  adversity, 
yet  others  will  now  and  then  strike  root  even  in  the  clefts 
of  the  rock,  struggle  bravely  up  into  the  sunshine,  and 
spread  over  their  sterile  birthplace  all  the  beauties  of  vege- 
tation. Although  genius  may  be  conscious  of  its  advan- 
tages, in  minds  like  those  referred  to  it  is  rarely  aware 
of  superiority  to  associate  minds;  and  its  achievements 
which  others  celebrate  are  frequently  but  its  ordinary  per- 
formances. 

Charlemagne  was  born  for  the  glory  of  his  country; 
Washington,  Jefferson,  Clay,  Webster,  Lincoln,  Grant,  Gar- 
field,  and  Blaine  for  the  glory  of  theirs.  These  names  are 
used  to  typify  the  qualities  of  mind  and  heart  we  are  cele- 


40  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

brating ;  not  to  distinguish  them  above  all  others  who  have 
lived;  for  hundreds  who  have  blessed  the  world  are  equally 
deserving  of  praise.  One  of  these  great  names  is  just  now 
in  the  mouths  of  all  the  people,  and  it  brings  "  smooth  com- 
fort" to  such  a  multitude,  that  we  shall  devote  to  the  his- 
tory and  qualities  of  its  honored  bearer  several  of  the  suc- 
ceeding chapters  of  this  work. 


JAMES  GILLESP1E  ELAINE.  41 


CHAPTBR  II. 

JAMES  GILLESPIE  ELAINE. 

"He  is  a  noble  gentleman ;  withal 
Happy  in  's  endeavors ;  the  general  voice 
Sounds  him  for  courtesy,  behavior,  language, 
And  every  fair  demeanor  an  example. 
Titles  of  honor  add  not  to  his  worth, 
Who  is  himself  an  honor  to  his  title."  FORD. 

JAMES  GILLESPIE  ELAINE,  Republican  nominee  for 
President  of  the  United  States,  at  the  Chicago  Conven- 
tion, June  6,  1884,  was  born  January  31,  1830,  in  Union 
Township,  Washington  County,  Pennsylvania. 

His  boyhood  years  were  spent  in  Washington  County, 
where  many  reminiscences  of  the  lad  are  now  extant,  and 
where  the  elderly  gossips  have  suddenly  awakened  to  an 
appreciation  of  his  early  cleverness.  The  country  awak- 
ened to  an  appreciation  of  his  great  abilities  near  twenty 
years  ago. 

A  word  about  his  ancestors.  His  great-grandfather, 
Ephraim  Elaine,  was  an  officer  in  the  war  of  the  Revolution, 
and  was  with  Washington  at  Valley  Forge,  with  the  thinly 
clad  and  inadequately  fed  patriots  who  were  encamped 
there  in  the  winter  of  1777-78,  the  details  of  whose  experi- 
ence upon  this  occasion  furnish  one  of  the  most  pathetic 
records  of  the  struggle  for  independence.  To  the  arduous 
labors  and  cool  judgment  of  Colonel  Elaine  as  commissary- 


42  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

general  is  attributed  in  a  great  measure  the  preservation  of 
the  American  forces  during  the  most  trying  emergency  our 
patriot  forefathers  were  compelled  to  encounter. 

The  father  of  the  subject  of  this  chapter,  Ephraim  L. 
Elaine,  was  one  of  the  leading  men  in  his  county,  a  magis- 
trate of  great  influence,  and  well  deserving  the  title,  "  a 
gentleman  of  the  old  school."  Liberal,  hospitable,  full  of 
that  genial  sociability  which  is  so  prominently  developed  in 
his  elder  son,  his  home  was  the  gathering  point  for  all  the 
choice  spirits  of  the  neighborhood,  where  the  feast  of 
reason  was  not  infrequently  followed  by  a  banquet  of  more 
substantial  quality.  His  reputation  for  open-hearted  gener- 
osity was  well-founded,  and  so  fully  illustrated  in  his  life 
that  in  a  few  years  he  became  a  poor  man,  but  his  good 
name  never  suffered  from  the  reverse.  His  old  friends  and 
neighbors  speak  of  his  integrity  with  veneration,  and  cele- 
brate many  instances  of  true  Spartan  honesty  which  were 
characteristic  of  his  life. 

The  maiden  name  of  Mr.  Elaine's  mother  was  Gillespie. 
She  was  of  Celtic  parentage  and  a  Catholic,  but  she  united 
her  fortunes  with  those  of  Ephraim  Elaine,  a  Presbyterian, 
and  found  a  congenial  match.  She  was  a  lady  of  great  in- 
telligence, commanding  beauty  and  quick  observation,  and  to 
her  sterling  qualities  of  head  and  heart  is  James  G.  Elaine 
indebted  for  the  early  training  which  laid  the  foundation  for 
his  life  work. 

Father  and  mother  are  now  lying  at  rest  in  the  church- 
yard near  their  old  home,  where  a  monument  erected  by 
their  distinguished  son  marks  the  place  of  their  earthly 
repose. 


JAMES  G1LLESP1E  BLAISE.  43 

The  early  training  of  young  Blaine  was  supplemented  by 
the  village  school,  where  he  developed  great  aptness  of 
memory  and. a  decided  taste  for  history  and  mathematics. 
These  were  sure  indications  at  this  early  age  of  the  practi- 
cal mind  which  has  since  estimated  occasions  and  results 
with  so  much  accuracy,  and  upon  whose  wonderful  reten- 
tiveness'many  of  the  sharpest  repartees  ever  made  in  the 
houses  of  the  American  Congress  hinged  and  balanced. 

An  old  friend  of  the  family  at  West  Brownsville  relates 
the  following  anecdote  :  At  the  close  of  a  school  term,  when 
Blaine  was  a  mere  lad  of  nine  or  ten  years,  he  among  others 
was  called  upon  for  a  declamation,  or,  as  it  was  called,  to 
"  speak  a  piece."  He  pleaded  lack  of  preparation ;  but  the 
teacher  replied  that  he  must  stand  up  and  repeat  something, 
no  matter  what.  Arising  from  his  seat,  he  declaimed,  with 
wonderful  gestures  and  astounding  emphasis,  the  Apostles' 
Creed,  which  he  remembered  from  hearing  it  repeated  a  few 
times  by  a  school-mate.  It  answered  the  emergency. 

Many  stories  are  told  of  his  aptness,  his  combative  tend- 
encies, his  early  habits  of  industry,  his  youthful  friendships 
and  enmities,  all  of  which  are  miniatures  of  the  qualities 
which  now  shine  with  so  much  brilliancy  in  the  developed 
man,  whose  honest,  ardent  nature  never  fails  to  make 
friends  of  those  who  can  appreciate  it,  and  probably  ene- 
mies of  those  who  can  not. 

He  left  the  elementary  school  to  attend  an  academical 
institution  at  Lancaster,  Ohio,  where  he  prepared  for  college. 
Here,  in  the  family  of  his  uncle,  Hon.  Thomas  Ewing,  then 
Secretary  of  the  United  States  Treasury,  he  enjoyed  every 
advantage  for  social  and  literary  advancement,  and  improved 


44  LIFE  AND  SER  VICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

them  to  the  utmost.  His  preparatory  course  was  finished 
in  two  years,  and  then  he  returned  to  Pennsylvania  and 
entered  Washington  College,  whence  he  graduated  in  1847. 

Mr.  Gow,  a  Pennsylvania  editor,  who  was  one  of  Elaine's 
classmates,  has  this  to  say  about  his  school-days  :  "  Elaine 
graduated  in  the  class  of  '47,  when  he  was  only  seventeen 
years  old.  I  graduated  in  the  same  class.  We  were 
thrown  a  great  deal  together,  not  only  in  school  but  in 
society.  He  was  a  great  favorite  in  the  best  social  circles 
in  the  town.  He  was  not  noted  as  a  leader  in  his  class. 
He  could  learn  his  lessons  too  easily.  He  had  the  most  re- 
markable memory  of  any  boy  in  school,  and  could  commit 
and  retain  his  lessons  without  difficulty.  He  never  demon- 
strated in  his  youth,  except  by  his  own  wonderful  memory, 
any  of  the  great  powers  as  a  debater  and  thinker  that  he 
has  since  given  evidence  of."  It  is  not  always  easy  for  a 
youth  of  seventeen  to  pass  unerring  judgment  upon  the 
capabilities  of  a  comrade  in  school.  The  official  record  says 
that  he  graduated  at  the  head  of  his  class. 

It  is  said  that  upon  leaving  college  he  besought  the  influ- 
ence of  Hon.  Thomas  Ewing  to  procure  him  an  appointment 
to  some  federal  office;  but  the  old  statesman  discouraged 
this  scheme,  and  advised  him  to  seek  a  living  in  a  more 
independent  occupation.  He  adopted  teaching,  and  in  this 
choice  we  note  the  similarity  between  the  early  bent  of  his 
mind  and  the  minds  of  such  men  as  Webster,  Wright,  Clay, 
Garfield,  and  a  host  of  great  workers  in  the  vineyard  of 
humanity.  It  is  the  most  exclusively  intellectual  employ- 
ment known  to  man,  and  peculiarly  attractive  to  those  who 
desire  distinction  in  mental  work. 


JAMES  GILLESPIE  ELAINE.  45 

He  secured  a  professorship  in  the  Western  Military  In- 
stitute, at  Georgetown,  Kentucky,  where  he  remained  two 
years,  and  was  eminently  successful  as  a  teacher.  During 
this  time  he  applied  himself  diligently  to  the  study  of  the 
law  in  hours  which  did  not  belong  to  the  duties  of  his  reg- 
ular employment,  and  to  such  good  purpose  that  at  the  end 
of  the  period  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar ;  but  he  has  never 
been  a  practicing  attorney.  In  the  fine  logic  of  many  of  his 
forensic  efforts  the  effect  of  his  legal  reading  is  apparent  to 
the  critical  observer. 

While  at  Georgetown  he  became  acquainted  with  Miss 
Stanwood,  a  New  England  lady  of  distinguished  family,  and 
married  her.  Soon  thereafter  he  removed  to  Maine,  where 
an  engagement  in  journalism  was  open  for  his  acceptance. 
He  assumed  control  of  the  Kennebec  Journal,  an  old  paper 
of  respectable  antecedents,  but  with  a  limited  income.  It 
proved  insufficient  for  the  comfortable  support  of  those  de- 
pendent upon  it,  and  Mr.  Elaine  transferred  his  services  to 
the  Portland  Advertiser.  But  it  was  not  long  before  he  re- 
turned to  Augusta,  where  he  has  continued  to  live  for  near 
twenty-five  years. 

As  a  journalist  he  made  a  brilliant  reputation.  He  knew 
the  wants  of  newspaper  readers,  and  administered  to  them 
intelligently  and  promptly.  His  editorials  were  not  lengthy, 
but  they  were  clear,  crisp,  and  pointed,  expressing  ideas  in 
a  way  to  please  and  convince,  without  offense,  but  still  in 
that  positive,  uncompromising  tone  that  brooks  no  half-way 
measures.  A  great  many  editors  who  write  what  they 
mean,  do  not  impress  the  public  with  the  idea  that  they 
really  mean  it,  and  thus  their  editorials  have  no  effect.  A 


46  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOG  AN. 

sincere  and  positive  writer  opens  his  heart  with  his  pen  and 
makes  dissimulation  and  doubt  impossible.  No  one  who  has 
read  his  editorials  or  his  speeches  will  doubt  that  Mr.  Elaine 
is  a  very  sincere  and  a  remarkably  positive  man.  He  has 
always  declared  his  convictions  without  fear  or  favor,  with 
becoming  modesty,  but  at  the  same  time  with  the  genuine 
courage  of  the  true  reformer.  Evidently,  he  long  ago  agreed 
with  Mrs.  Browning,  that 

"There's  too  much  abstract  willing,  purposing, 
In  this  poor  world.     We  talk  by  aggregates 
And  think  by  systems,  and,  being  used  to  face 
Our  evils  in  statistics,  are  inclined 
To  cap  them  with  unreal  remedies 
Drawn  out  in  haste  on  the  other  side  the  slate." 

No  man  who  does  not  scorn  hypocrisy  and  pretense  can 
write  or  speak  as  he  does.  No  man  who  lacks  the  absolute- 
ness of  honesty  in  his  inmost  soul  can  write  or  speak  as  he 
does.  No  man  living  writes  or  speaks  with  more  directness 
or  effect  than  James  G.  Blaine. 

The  step  from  journalism  to  politics  was  natural  and 
easy.  In  1858  he  first  came  before  the  people  as  a  candi- 
date for  their  suffrages,  and  he  was  elected  as  a  representa- 
tive to  the  Legislature  of  Maine  by  a  handsome  majority. 
In  1860  his  fellow-members  elected  him  Speaker  of  the 
House,  and  it  was  while  in  this  position  that  his  fame  began 
its  most  rapid  growth.  With  great  assiduity  he  perfected 
his  knowledge  of  parliamentary  law,  and  his  rulings  were  in- 
variably prompt  and  correct.  So  much  ability  did  he  dis- 
play in  this  position  that  his  constituents  prevailed  upon  him 
to  make  the  race  for  Congress,  and  in  1862  he  was  elected 
to  the  National  House  of  Representatives  by  a  majority  of 


JAMES  GILLESPIE  ELAINE.  47 

3,422.     For  the  six  terms  to  which  he  was  subsequently 
elected  he  received  the  following  majorities  : 

1864 .". 4,328 

1866 6,591 

1868 3,346 

1870 2,320 

1872 3,568 

1874 2,830 

He  was  three  times  chosen  Speaker  of  the  House,  and 
served  six  years  in  that  capacity,  from  March  4,  1869,  to 
March  4,  1875.  He  received  the  nomination  for  the  Speak- 
ership  upon  each  occasion,  in  the  Republican  caucus,  by  ac- 
clamation— an  honor  not  enjoyed  by  any  other  candidate  for 
the  Speakership  before  nor  since — and  he  never  had  a  de- 
cision reversed  or  overruled  by  the  House  during  the  entire 
time  of  his  holding  that  onerous  and  difficult  office.  He 
presided  with  dignity  and  impartiality,  and  commanded  the 
respect  of  members  of  both  political  parties. 

He  was  appointed  Senator  July  8,  1876,  to  fill  the  va- 
cancy caused  by  the  resignation  of  Lot  M.  Morrill  to  be- 
come Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and  he  was  elected  Senator 
January  16,  1877,  both  for  the  long  and  short  terms,  by 
the  unanimous  vote  of  the  Republicans  in  the  Maine  Legis- 
lature, both  in  caucus  and  in  their  respective  Houses.  He 
was  made  Secretary  of  State  March  4,  1881,  by  President 
Garfield,  and  held  that  office  until  December  12,  1881,  when 
he  was  succeeded  by  F.  T.  Frelinghuysen.  Mr.  Elaine's 
public  life  began  in  January,  1858;  it  closed  temporarily  at 
the  end  of  1881,  being  a  period  of  twenty-four  years.  It 
was  continuous.  He  was  promoted  by  the  people  from  one 
place  to  another,  and  he  never  got  before  the  people  that  he  was 


48  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

not  elected.  His  defeats  have  been  confined  to  two  National 
Conventions  of  his  own  party,  in  both  of  which  he  was  the 
undoubted  choice  of  a  majority  of  the  delegates  from  the 
Republican  States.  The  politicians  have  beaten  him  twice, 
but  the  people  never. 

Fresh  in  the  memory  of  every  one  is  the  fight,  hard  and 
heroic,  of  Elaine's  supporters,  who  sought  his  nomination  at 
the  Cincinnati  Convention,  of  June  6,  1876.  Three  hundred 
and  seventy-nine  votes  for  Hayes,  three  hundred  and  fifty- 
one  for  Elaine,  and  twenty-three  for  Bristow,  stood  the  sev- 
enth ballot.  Again  in  1880,  he  renewed  his  candidacy,  and 
was  successful  in  defeating  the  third-term  movement,  and 
largely  instrumental  in  bringing  about  the  nomination  of 
Mr.  Garfield,  whose  cabinet  he  entered  in  March,  1881,  as 
Secretary  of  State.  His  career  since  then  is  too  familiar  to 
need  recital.  His  personal  appearance  is  altogether  striking. 
A  rugged  mien,  a  face  furrowed  with  strongly  marked  lines 
surrounding  the  mouth,  and  other  features,  bespeak  will- 
power indomitable,  and  firmness  unswerving.  Sparse,  closely 
cut  hair,  and  full,  frosty  beard  betray  the  approach  of  life's 
autumn.  A  youthful  elasticity  of  movement,  however, 
seems  to  belie  the  years  written  to  his  account  in  a  tell- 
tale Congressional  record.  His  height  is  nearly  six  feet,  his 
frame  almost  colossal.  His  attire  is  altogether  appropriate 
to  a  carriage  too  manly  to  admit  of  any  slouchiness,  even 
in  apparel.  Neither  mind  nor  body  is  lacking  in  muscle 
and  sinew.  Face  and  form  alike  convey  an  impression  of 
vigor  and  resolution. 

It  is,  however,  in  a  certain  psychological  influence  over 
Ms  fellow-men  that  Mr.  Elaine  is  most  conspicuously  dis- 


JAMES  GILLESPIE  ELAINE. 


49 


tinguished  from  his  companions  in  high  political  life.  His 
power  flows  from  his  mind  and  enters  the  minds  of  others. 
Men  call  it  magnetism.  He  gives  off  to  those  with  whom  he 
associates  and  receives  from  them  the  electrical  currents  of 
sympathy  and  fraternity.  Men  are  drawn  to  him.  They 
follow  him  by  preference,  and  sway  to  the  movements  of 
his  will.  To  no  other  of  the  present  political  leaders  in 
our  republic  do  men  look  with  so  much  enthusiasm  as  to 
the  magnetic  Elaine. 

The  following  table  exhibits  Mr.  Elaine's  vote  in  the 
Cincinnati  Convention  of  1876,  and  in  the  Chicago  Conven- 
tion of  1880,  by  States.  It  is  specially  valuable  for  refer- 
ence at  this  time: 


STATES. 

1876 

1880 

STATES. 

1876 

1880 

Alabama 

17 
11 
6 
6 
2 
6 
8 
14 
35 

1 
12 

3 
6 

8 
10 
26 
22 
6 
1 
2 
14 
7 

21 
4 

Nebraska    

6 

6 
6 
10 
16 
17 

Arkansas    

Nevada       

New  Hampshire,     .... 

7 
12 
9 

Colorado     

Connecticut  ....... 

Delaware 

North  Carolina.    

Florida.    

Ohio     

9 
6 
23 

8 

6 
2 

Georgia  

6 
30 
2 
7 
6 
1 

Illinois  

Indiana  

Iowa    

22 
10 

South  Carolina     ..... 

Kansas    

Tennessee      

Kentucky       

Texas      •   .       

Louisiana,  

14 
14 
16 
5 

Vermont    

Maine      

Virginia      ........ 

14 
6 
16 
14 

3 
8 
7 

14 

284 

Maryland   

Vv^est  Virginia      

Massachusetts  

Wisconsin      

Michigan    

Territories      

Minnesota      . 

9 

Total    

Mississippi     

351 

Missouri,    

20 

Following  are  the  details  of  the  ballots  taken  upon  his 
nomination  at  Chicago,  June  6,  1884,  in  the  most  convenient 
form  for  easy  reference  : 


50 


LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 


FIRST  BALLOT. 


STATES  AND  TERRITORIES. 

S5 

0 

2 

i 

Arthur... 

Elaine.... 

Edmunds 

5 

Sherman 

Hawley... 

Lincoln.. 

W.  T. 

Sherman 

20 

17 

1 

1 

14 

4 

8 

2 

16 

16 

6 

6 

12 

12 

6 

1 

5 

8 

7 

1 

24 

24 

44 

1 

3 

40 

30 

9 

18 

1 

2 

26 

26 

18 

4 

12 

1 

1 

26 

16 

5i 

2* 

1 

1 

16 

10 

2 

3 

I9 

12 

16 

6 

10 

Massachusetts    

28 

2 

1 

95 

Michigan  ........-• 

26 

2 

15 

7 

2 

14 

1 

7 

6 

18 

17 

1 

S9 

10 

5 

(5 

10 

1 

10 

2 

8 

6 

y 

8 

4 

4 

NBW  Jersey    

18 

9 

6 

1 

2 

^few  York   

72 

31 

28 

19 

1 

9? 

19 

2 

1 

Ohio  

46 

21 

25 

6 

6 

60 

11 

47 

1 

1 

Rhode  Island,    

8 

8 

South  Carolina,  

18 

17 

1 

Tennessee    

24 

16 

7 

1 

Texas    

26 

11 

13 

2 

8 

8 

Virginia   

24 

21 

2 

1 

12 

12 

99 

6 

10 

6 

2 

2 

2 

2 

District  of  Columbia,  .... 

9 

1 

1 

2 

2 

2 

1 

1 

2 

2 

Utah     

9 

2 

2 

2 

9 

2 

Totals  

820 

278 

334J 

93 

63£ 

30 

13 

4 

2 

Whole  number  of  votes  cast, 818. 


CHESTER  A.    ARTHUR. 


GEN.  JOHN  A.   LOGAN. 


GEORGE   F.    EDMUNDS. 


JAMES   G.    ELAINE. 


CANDIDATES    FOR    PRESIDENTIAL   NOMINATION. 
Republican  Convention,  Chicago,  1884. 


JAMES  GILLESPIE  ELAINE. 


51 


SECOND  BALLOT. 


STATES  AND  TEKKITORIES. 

a 
o 

< 

o 

I 

Arthur  ... 

Elaine.... 

Edmunds 

a 

Sherman 

Hawley  .. 

Lincoln.. 

%* 
a> 

9  • 
• 

o 

20 
14 
16 
6 
12 
6 
8 
24 
44 
30 
26 
18 
26 
16 
12 
16 
28 
26 
14 
18 
32 
10 
6 
8 
18 
72 
22 
46 
6 
60 
8 
18 
24 
26 
8 
24 
12 
22 

17 
3 

2 
11 
16 
6 

•    • 

1 

Arkansas,  

Colorado,  

Connecticut,   

12 

•    • 

•  ' 

Delaware,  

1 
7 
24 
1 
9 

2 
17 
9 

4 
3 
4 

1 
17 
10 
2 

5 

31 

18 

11 

17 
16 
11 

21 
6 

5 

1 

Florida,  

Illinois,  

3 
18 
26 
13 
5 
4 
12 
12 
1 
15 
7 
1 
7 
8 
6 

9 
28 
3 
23 
6 
47 

1 

7 
13 

2 

12 
11 
2 
2 
1 

1 

40 

Indiana,   

2 

Iowa,  

Kansas     

•    • 

2 
2 
2 

1 

1 

1 

.   . 

Kentucky    

24 
5 
6 

Michigan,  

2 

Minnesota,  

5 

8 

1 

Nebraska,    

Nevada,    

New  Hampshire,  

3 
6 
12 

1 
1 

2 

New  York   

1 

North  Carolina,  

Ohio      

23 

Oregon      

1 
8 

1 

South  Carolina,  

Tennessee    . 

8 

1 
2 

Texas,   

1 

AVest  Virginia   

5 

District  of  Columbia    

1 
? 

Idaho,  

1 

1 

9 

Utah     .    .    

2 

2 

9 

Total  vote  

820 

85 

14 

276 

349 

62 

29 

1 

2 

Whole  number  of  votes  cast, 818. 


52 


LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  BLAINE  AND  LOGAN. 


THIRD  BALLOT. 


STATES  AND  TERRITORIES. 

No.Votes 

Arthur.... 

Blaine  

Edmunds 

f 

Sherman 

Hawley... 

Lincoln... 

W.  T. 
Sherman 

20 
14 
16 
6 
12 
6 
8 
24 

17 
3 

2 
11 
16 
6 

1 

Alabama,    

12 

1 

7 
24 

5 
1 

Delaware,   

Florida,   
Georgia,  

Illinois,    

44 
30 
°6 

1 
10 

o 

18 
°fi 

•    • 

40 

2 

18 
26 
16 
12 

16 
9 

15 
6 
4 
I9 

2 
2 

2 

1 

1 

1 

16 
28 
26 
14 
18 
32 
10 
6 
8 
18 
72 
22 
46 
6 
GO 
8 
18 
24 
26 
8 
24 

4 
3 
4 
2 

lo- 
ll 

5 

1 
32 

18 

8 

16 
17 
11 

20 

12 
1 

18 
7 
1 
12 
10 
6 

11 
28 
4 
25 
6 
50 

9 

7 
14 

4 

24 
3 
5 

1 

1 

4 

4 

1 

3 

6 

12 

Ohjo               

21 

•   • 

1 
8 

1 

Tennessee,  

Texas,  

8 

1 

Virginia,  

West  Virginia,  

12 

22 
f) 

10 

12 

11 

1 

2 
2 

5 

2 
2 

1 
1 

2 

i 

1 

•    • 

Idaho,  

Montana,     

1 

n 

Wyoming,  

c 

<i 

•    • 

Totals,  

820   274 

3751     69j     53 

25 

13 

8 

2 

Whole  number  of  votes  cast, 819. 


ROBERT   T.   LINCOLN. 


GEN.  WILLIAM   T.  SHERMAN. 


GEN.  JOSEPH    R.   HAWLEY 


JOHN  SHERMAN. 


CANDIDATES    FOR   PRESIDENTIAL    NOMINATION. 
Republican  Convention,  Chicago,  1884. 


JAMES  GILLESPIE  ELAINE. 


53 


FOURTH  BALLOT. 


STATES  AND  TERRITORIES. 

No.  Votes. 

Arthur.... 

Blalne  

Edmunds 

1 

Hawley.  . 

'Lincoln  .. 

Alabama   

*>o 

I9 

8 

14 

3 

11 

California      

16 

16 

Colorado    

6 

6 

I9 

1?, 

Delaware      

6 

1 

5 

Florida      

g 

5 

3 

Georgia      

'M 

94 

Illinois  

44 

1 

34 

6 

Indiana                    .       ........ 

so 

30 

Iowa   

96 

9 

24 

Kansas  ....       .       

18 

18 

Kentucky     

96 

15 

9 

1 

1 

Louisiana      

16 

7 

9 

Maine     

I9 

12 

Maryland      

16 

1 

15 

28 

7 

3 

18 

Michigan       

96 

26 

Minnesota     

14 

14 

Mississippi    

18 

16 

9 

Missouri    ............... 

33 

32 

Nebraska^      

10 

10 

Nevada      

6 

6 

New  Hampshire     ........... 

8 

9 

3 

3 

New  Jersey      •   

18 

17 

1 

New  York     

79 

SO 

29 

9 

9 

1 

North  Carolina  

99 

I9 

8 

1 

Ohio,  

46 

46 

Oregon       

6 

6 

Pennsylvania       ........... 

60 

8 

51 

1 

Rhode  Island       

8 

1 

7 

South  Carolina    

18 

15 

2 

1 

Tennessee     

94 

I9 

11 

Texas     

96 

8 

15 

Vermont   . 

8 

8 

?4 

90 

4 

~\e> 

12 

"Wisconsin     

99 

22 

Arizona,    

9 

9 

Dakota  

9 

2 

9 

1 

1 

Idaho     

9 

2 

Montana,  

2 

2 

9 

2 

Utah,  .    .'  

9 

2 

^Vashino'ton     

9 

9 

2 

Total,  

890 

207 

541 

41 

15 

2 

Whole  number  of  votes  cast, 813. 


54  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

The  nomination  was  promptly  made  unanimous  amid  great 
enthusiasm. 

Thus  have  we  faintly  outlined  Mr.  Elaine  from  his  youth 
up  to  his  nomination  for  the  highest  earthly  honor,  glancing 
only  at  the  salient  points  of  his  history  until  we  get  him 
fairly  before  the  reader,  and  purposely  reserving  details  for 
those  more  intimate  interviews  which  are  to  follow. 


THE  REPUBLICAN  LEADER.  55 


CHAPTKR  III. 

THE  REPUBLICAN  LEADER. 

"  A  brave  captain  is  as  a  root,  out  of  which,  as  branches,  the  cour- 
age of  his  soldiers  doth  spring."  SIDNEY. 


leader  of  leaders,  James  G.  Elaine,"  exclaimed 

A  Ingersoll,  in  1876.  It  seemed  a  startling  announcement 
then  ;  but  now  every  body  acknowledges,  and  nearly  every 
body  appreciates,  its  appropriateness.  He  has  been  a  leader 
of  leaders  from  the  moment  he  stepped  out  as  the  vanguard 
of  the  Republican  party,  more  than  ten  years  ago,  and  it  is 
a  position  he  will  not  be  apt  to  surrender  soon  ;  at  least, 
such  is  the  public  hope.  The  people  understand  what  his 
leadership  means.  They  know  that  it  means,  when  the 
necessary  power  is  secured,  justice  to  every  human  being 
under  the  American  flag,  to  be  asserted  peaceably  if  we  can, 
forcibly  if  we  must. 

It  means  due  protection  to  every  American  interest, 
whether  agricultural,  commercial,  mechanical,  social,  or  legal  ; 
not  for  revenue  only,  but  for  the  commonwealth. 

It  means  national  preservation,  let  the  cost  be  what  it 
may  ;  and  arrays  itself  in  opposition  to  such  "  entertain- 
ments" as  have  recently  been  popular  in  Copiah  County, 
Mississippi. 

It  means  the  policy  of  Garfield,  revivified  and  animated 
by  the  combativeness  and  vim  of  Elaine. 

What  could  be  more  comprehensive  and  desirable  ? 


56  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

But  the  reader  will  say  that  the  policy  of  Garfield  was 
the  Elaine  policy  from  the  beginning.  Steady,  good  friend ! 
It  was  the  Elaine  policy  expressis  verbis,  but  not  always  in 
action.  To  be,  is  one  thing ;  to  act,  another.  Shakspeare 
declares  that  "  strong  reasons  make  strong  actions ;"  but 
there  are  too  many  exceptions  for  mere  proof  of  the  rule. 
Had  he  lived,  Garfield  would  have  given  us  an  administra- 
tion with  plenty  of  himself  and  a  goodly  sprinkling  of 
Elaine  in  it,  and  therefore  such  an  administration  as  it 
would  be  difficult  to  improve  upon;  but  circumstances  have 
changed  since  Garfield's  decease.  There  was  never  more 
positive  need  of  a  strong  government  in  the  United  States 
than  at  the  present  time.  If  the  object  of  fighting  the 
South  in  the  late  civil  war  was  the  preservation  of  the 
Union  in  its  original  integrity,  it  failed  of  some  portion  of 
its  attempt,  and  therefore  a  good  part  of  the  point  must  be 
gained  under  the  reign  of  peace.  But  it  must  be  a  strong 
reign,  by  a  hand  that  can  not  falter  in  the  right,  guided  by 
a  cool  and  determined  head. 

It  must  protect  the  ballot,  wherever  it  is  and  by  who- 
ever cast — whether  it  is  a  Republican  ballot,  a  Democratic 
ballot,  or  a  ballot  under  some  other  name.  Whatever  the 
ballot  is,  if  legally  cast,  it  must  be  made  free  to*  every  free- 
man, without  regard  to  partisanship,  color,  or  previous  con- 
dition; whether  it  is  cast  at  the  North  or  the  South,  the 
East  or  the  West.  This  is  not  only  Republican  doctrine 
under  the  truest  and  brightest  light  of  Republicanism,  but 
American  doctrine  under  the  most  ordinary  construction  of 
Republican  rights  and  privileges.  The  Republican  party  is 
the  only  organization,  however,  that  honestly  attempts  to 


THE  REPUBLICAN  LEADER.  57 

sustain  and  defend  it;  and  unless  it  is  so  sustained  and  de- 
fended, it  will  cease  to  be,  and  the  party  will  cease  to  be  at 
the  same  juncture. 

It  is  believed  that  the  Republican  party  has  still  a  long 
lease  of  life,  and  that  its  mission  has  only  just  begun.  For 
twenty-five  years  its  history  has  been  filled  with  brilliant 
achievements,  and  during  this  period  its  annals  contain,  sub- 
stantially, the  history  of  the  country.  In  the  early  years 
of  its  existence  it  sowed  some  dragon's  teeth,  at  which  a  few 
of  its  weak  members  were  affrighted;  but  when  they  sprang 
up  armed  men,  as  at  ancient  Thebes,  and  fought  the  illustri- 
ous battle  of  freedom  in  triumph,  the  down-trodden  of  all 
the  world  greeted  the  party  as  a  new  Emmanuel,  and  prayed 
that  its  good  right  arm  might  be  extended  for  them  day  and 
night  until  the  emancipation  of  man  became  universal.  It 
was  the  party  of  freemen,  in  the  noblest  sense  of  the  designa- 
tion. And  what  does  this  imply?  The  essence  of  all  re- 
ligion that  was  and  that  will  be,  says  Carlyle,  is  to  make 
men  free.  Who  is  it  that  in  this  life-pilgrimage  will  conse- 
crate himself,  at  all  hazards,  to  obey  the  higher  law  and  its 
servants,  and  to  disobey  the  devil  and  his?  With  pious 
valor  this  free  man  walks  through  the  roaring  tumults  invin- 
cibly, the  way  whither  he  is  bound.  To  him  in  the  waste 
Saharas,  through  the  grim  solitudes  peopled  by  galvanized 
corpses  and  doleful  creatures  of  rebellion,  there  is  a  lode- 
star ;  and  his  path,  whatever  that  of  others  be,  is  towards 
the  Eternal.  Such  a  man  is  well  worth  consulting,  well 
worth  taking  the  vote  about  matters  temporal ;  in  fact, 
the  only  kind  of  man  worth  considering  in  an  age  of 
great  deeds. 


58  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

Such  a  man  was  Lincoln;  such  was  Garfield  ;  and,  "in 
full  and  rounded  measure,"  such  is  Elaine.  To  the  calm 
judgment  of  Lincoln  and  the  stern  honesty  of  Garfield,  he 
adds  an  intelligence  which  is  illuminated  by  the  effulgence 
of  reason,  and  this  he  reflects  upon  all  surroundings  in  life 
and  deed.  And  he  has  courage  sufficient  for  any  emergency; 
not  that  courage  which  consists  in  blindly  overlooking  dan- 
ger, but  in  confronting  it  face  to  face,  and  conquering  it  at 
all  risks.  He  dares  do  "all  that  may  become  a  man,"  but 
he  does  not  believe  in  sneezing  every  time  a  foreign  poten- 
tate takes  snuff !  He  has  been  called  the  Henry  Clay  of  his 
party,  and  this  is  a  title  of  peculiar  honor;  but  he  is  in  a 
striking  degree  a  combination  of  Clay,  Webster,  and  Seward. 
To  the  brilliancy  of  the  first  he  adds  the  prescience  of  the 
second  and  the  liberality  of  the  third,  and  he  crowns  all 
with  something  still  nobler — true  Christian  manhood.  From 
the  ranks  has  he  fought  his  way  up  to  the  exalted  position 
of  leadership.  To  him  the  contest  has  been  what  the  Italian 
campaigns  were  to  Napoleon — the  foundation  of,  and  prep- 
aration for,  his  eventual  supremacy.  The  enemies  of  the 
government  look  upon  the  impending  election  with  the  ex- 
pectation that  it  will  decide  whether  the  Union  is  to  be 
preserved  complete  and  impregnable,  or  whether  it  is  to  be 
surrendered  to  the  dominion  of  the  solid  South  ;  and  under 
this  view  of  the  situation  no  one  should  be  surprised  at 
their  objections  to  the  candidacy  of  Elaine.  He  is  at  least 
as  strong  as  that  abstract  Democracy  whose  platform  is 
simply  an  invoice  of  negatives,  and  whose  great  idol  of  free 
trade  seems  to  have  "fallen  with  its  face  to  the  ground," 
like  Dagon  in  the  house  of  the  Philistines;  and  the  foot- 


THE  REPUBLICAN  LEADER.  59 

prints  of  the  pilgrims  to  its  altar  are  all  reversed,  as  if  in 
hasty  flight. 

This  is  the.  book  of  the  generation  of  free  trade  in  the 
I  United  States:  The  South  disliked  the  North  in  the  days 
of  slavery,  and  was  jealous  of  the  prosperity  of  our  manu- 
facturers. For  the  purpose  of  getting  even  with  these 
manufacturers,  and  at  the  same  time  adding  some  strength 
to  the  tenure  of  the  "  patriarchal  institution,"  they  op- 
posed a  tariff  for  protection,  in  the  hope  that  they  would 
be  enabled  to  bring  our  labor  into  close  competition  with 
that  of  Europe,  which  would  reduce  our  toilers  to  the  con- 
dition of  serfs;  and  then  the  Northern  States  would  be- 
come the  home  of  slavery  as  abject  as  that  under  the  black 
"institution"  in  the  sunny  clime.  But  since  slavery  in  the 
South  has  been  abolished,  manufactures  have  sprung  into 
existence  there,  and  the  natural  resources  of  that  section  are 
bringing  opulence  to  free  labor.  In  those  localities  where 
the  best  progress  has  been  made,  the  friends  of  a  protective 
tariff  are  increasing  rapidly,  and  the  day  may  not  be  very  far 
distant  when  the  Southland  will  send  up  a  plea  for  protection 
to  her  industries,  quite  as  eloquent,  fully  as  logical,  and  doubt- 
less in  every  point  as  convincing,  as  was  ever  any  similar  pe- 
tition from  New  England  or  Pennsylvania.  Free  trade  in  the 
United  States  is  the  enemy  of  free  labor.  It  tends  to  rob 
enterprise  of  its  spirit  and  vigor;  to  a  declaration  of  de- 
pendence upon  Great  Britain.  We  are  not  just  ready  to  go 
under  the  colonial  yoke  again,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  we  will 
be  slow  in  getting  ready. 

Mr.  Elaine  feels  less  interest  in  the  inhabitants  of  foreign 
countries  than  in  our  own  people.  This  is  one  reason  why 


60  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

he  believes  in  protection  to  home  industry.  He  is  strong  in 
the  view  that  our  own  markets  should  be  first  enjoyed  by 
our  manufacturers,  farmers,  and  merchants,  who  pay  taxes 
to  sustain  the  institutions  which  protect  them ;  and  then,  if 
there  is  a  demand  for  the  products  of  the  foreigner,  let  him 
come  and  sell  under  such  regulations  as  subject  him  to  a 
due  proportion  of  the  tax.  What  is  more  reasonable  than 
an  arrangement  like  this  ?  It  is  not  desirable,  we  presume, 
to  tax  our  citizens  for  something  we  would  grant  free  to 
aliens.  He  believes  we  are  a  Nation,  as  contradistinguished 
from  a  confederation,  and  entitled  to  rank  with  the  great 
nations  of  the  earth.  A  few  individuals  profess  to  believe 
that  there  is  danger  in  this  sentiment,  and  that  its  assertion 
will  embroil  us  with  foreign  powers.  Whether  dangerous  or 
not,  he  would  be  a  poor  apology  for  an  American  who  would 
not  assert  and  maintain  it  against  all  comers.  He  would 
lack  manly  dignity  and  forfeit  every  claim  to  respect.  Be- 
sides all  this,  Mr.  Elaine  is  opposed  to  permitting  foreign 
governments  to  gain  any  additional  foot-hold  upon  this  con- 
tinent. He  prefers  to  have  them  keep  their  enterprises, 
their  little  schemes  of  empire,  and  their  pauper  labor  away 
from  our  shores ;  but  if  they  have  any  good,  industrious, 
honest  laborers  to  spare,  he  is  ready  to  promise  them  cheap 
lands  for  homes,  or  steady  work  at  fair  wages  in  mechanical 
or  agricultural  employment.  We  fail  to  discover  any  thing 
to  criticise  in  views  like  these.  If  the  foreigner  encroaches 
upon  our  heritage,  and  attempts  to  possess  any  part  of  it,  he 
should  be  smitten  hip  and  thigh,  as  Samson  smote  the 
Philistines;  and  it  would  be  a  poor  specimen  of  American 
patriot  who  would  not  join  in  the  disturbance. 


JAMES  G1LLESPIE  ELAINE.  61 

There  are  no  apologies  to  make  for  Mr.  Elaine.  He 
stands  at  the  head  of  the  party  of  the  Nation ;  the  party 
of  the  Peoplej  the  party  of  Progress;  of  Enlightenment; 
of  Civil  and  Religious  Liberty;  of  Equal  Rights  to  all 
who  claim  the  protection  of  the  American  flag ;  and  if  any 
one  ever  proved  his  title  clear  to  the  leadership  of  such  a 
party,  James  G.  Elaine  is  the  man.  He  is  the  man  of  the 
Nation,  of  the  People,  of  Progress,  and  of  all  those  mas- 
terly qualities  which  recommend  his  party  to  the  public  re- 
gard. He  commands  the  respect  and  veneration  of  every 
true  Republican  in  the  same  degree  that  Henry  Clay  ex- 
cited these  sentiments  in  the  breast  of  every  true  Whig,  by 
the  magetism  of  his  great,  sympathetic  heart,  which  beats 
in  unison  with  the  patriotic  impulses  of  his  powerful  brain. 
He  is  not  only  a  representative  Republican,  but  a  represen- 
tative American ;  not  only  a  representative  statesman,  but  a 
representative  Man.  Nobody  with  native  sense  has  the 
least  idea  of  calling  him  the  candidate  of  "  availability." 
He  was  nominated  by  the  people  months  before  the  Chicago 
convention  assembled.  That  convention  did  little  more  than 
ratify  the  people's  choice,  and  make  a  platform  which  re- 
sponds to  the  people's  faith.  And  now  that  he  is  to  be  our 
President,  let  his  own  words  declare  the  sentiments  which 
animate  his  patriotism  and  dictate  his  statesmanship  upon 
those  questions  in  which  he  is  supposed  to  feel  the  strong- 
est interest.  We  quote  the  concluding  lines  of  the  first 
volume  of  his  "  Twenty  Years  in  Congress : " 

"This  brief  history  of  the  spirit  rather  than  the  events 
which  characterized  the  foreign  relations  of  the  United 
States  during  the  civil  war,  has  been  undertaken  with  no 


62  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

desire  to  revive  the  feelings  of  burning  indignation  which 
they  provoked,  or  to  prolong  the  discussion  of  the  angry 
questions  to  which  they  gave  rise.  The  relations  of  nations 
are  not  and  should  not  be  governed  by  sentiment.  The  interest 
and  ambition  of  States,  like  those  of  men,  will  disturb  the 
moral  sense  and  incline  to  one  side  or  the  other  the  strict 
balance  of  impartial  justice.  New  days  bring  new  issues, 
and  old  passions  are  unsafe  counselors.  Twenty  years 
have  gone  by.  England  has  paid  the  cost  of  her  mistake. 
The  Republic  of  Mexico  has  seen  the  fame  and  the  fortunes 
of  the  emperors  who  sought  her  conquest  sink  suddenly — 
as  into  the  pits  which  they  themselves  had  digged  for  their 
victims — and  the  Republic  of  the  United  States  has  come 
out  of  her  long  and  bitter  struggle  so  strong  that  never 
again  will  she  afford  the  temptation  or  the  opportunity  of 
unfriendly  governments  to  strike  at  her  National  life.  Let 
the  past  be  the  past,  but  let  it  be  the  past  with  all  the  in- 
struction and  the  warning  of  its  experience. 

"The  future  safety  of  these  continents  rests  upon  the 
strength  and  maintenance  of  the  Union,  for  had  dissolution 
been  possible,  events  have  shown  with  what  small  regard 
the  interests  or  the  honor  of  either  of  the  belligerents  would 
have  been  treated.  It  has  been  taught  to  the  smaller  re- 
publics that  if  this  strength  be  shattered,  they  will  be  the 
spoil  of  foreign  arms  and  the  dependent  provinces  again  of 
foreign  monarchs.  When  this  contest  was  over,  the  day  of 
immaturity  had  past,  and  the  United  States  stood  before  the 
world  a  great  and  permanent  Power.  That  Power  can 
afford  to  bury  all  resentments.  Tranquil  at  home,  devel- 
oping its  inexhaustible  resources  with  a  rapidity  and  sue- 


THE  REPUBLICAN  LEADER.  63 

cess  unknown  in  history,  bound  in  sincere  friendship,  and 
beyond  the  possibility  of  hostile  rivalry  with  the  other  re- 
publics of  the  continents,  standing  midway  between  Asia 
and  Europe,  a  power  on  the  Pacific  as  well  as  on  the 
Atlantic,  with  no  temptation  to  intermeddle  in  the  ques- 
tions which  disturb  the  Old  World,  the  Republic  of  the 
United  States  desires  to  live  in  amicable  relation  with  all 
peoples,  demanding  only  the  abstinence  of  foreign  intervention 
in  the  development  of  that  policy  which  her  political  creed, 
her  territorial  extent,  and  the  close  and  cordial  neighbor- 
hood of  kindred  governments,  have  made  the  essential  rule 
of  her  national  life." 

So  long  as  other  nations  behave  themselves,  we  propose 
to  treat  them  right;  when  they  misbehave,  they  may  ex- 
pect us  to  chastise  them — more  in  sorrow  than  in  anger, 
perhaps,  but  in  a  way  they  will  not  forget. 

A  few  Republicans  have  conceived  the  idea  that  this  is  to 
be  a  defensive  campaign,  and  they  are  fortifying  accordingly. 
But  they  may  as  well  come  out  of  the  entrenchments  at 
once,  and  drive  the  foe  from  the  field.  There  is  nothing  to 
defend  in  either  candidate  or  platform,  but  probably  some- 
thing to  gain  by  a  prompt  assault  upon  the  opposing  ranks. 
Democrats  have  no  fresh  powder  to  burn  in  their  attacks 
upon  Elaine,  and  all  the  old  campaign  bombs  were  exploded 
long  ago,  without  hurting  any  one  but  their  compounders. 
While  we  are  referring  to  this  part  of  the  subject,  however, 
a  voluntary  tribute  from  Mr.  Elaine's  former  pastor,  who 
knew  him  intimately  for  ten  years  (1872-82),  may  be  sub- 
mitted to  the  reader.  His  name  is  J.  H.  Ecob,  and  he  re- 
sides now  at  Albany,  New  York.  Following  are  his  words : 


64       LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

•  "I  have  been  very  near  to  Mr.  Elaine,  not  only  in  the 
most  trying  political  crises,  but  in  the  sharper  trial  of  great 
grief  in  the  household,  and  have  never  yet  detected  a  false 
note.  I  would  not  be  understood  as  avowing  too  much  for 
human  nature,  but  I  mean  that  as  I  have  known  him  he  has 
stood  loyally  by  his  convictions;  that  his  word  has  always 
had  back  of  it  a  clean  purpose,  and  that  purpose  has  always 
been  worthy  of  the  highest  manhood.  In  his  house  he  was 
always  the  soul  of  geniality  and  good  heart;  there  was 
always  summer  in  that  house,  whatever  the  Maine  winter 
might  be  without,  and  not  only  his  rich  neighbors  and  kins- 
men welcomed  him  home,  but  a  long  line  of  the  poor  hailed 
the  return  of  that  family  as  a  special  providence.  In  the 
Church  he  is  honored  and  beloved.  The  good  old  New  Eng- 
land custom  of  Church-going,  with  all  the  guests,  is  en- 
forced strictly  in  the  Elaine  household.  Whoever  is  under 
his  roof,  from  the  President  down,  is  expected  to  be  with 
the  family  at  Church.  Fair  weather  or  foul,  those  pews 
were  always  well  filled.  Not  only  his  presence,  but  his  in- 
fluence, his  wise  counsels,  and  his  purse  are  freely  devoted 
to  the  interests  of  the  noble  old  South  Church  of  Augusta. 
The  hold  which  Mr.  Elaine  has  maintained  upon  the  hearts 
of  such  great  numbers  of  his  countrymen,  is  not  sufficiently 
explained  by  brilliant  gifts  or  magnetism;  the  secret  lies  in 
his  generous,  manly,  Christian  character.  Those  who  have 
known  him  best  are  not  surprised  that  his  friends  all 
over  the  country  have  been  determined  that  he  should  se- 
cure the  highest  honor  within  their  gift.  It  is  because  they 
believe  in  him.  The  office  has  sought  the  man,  the  political 
papers  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding." 


REP  UBLICAN  NOMINA  TIONS.  6 5 

* 

CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  REPUBLICAN  NOMINATIONS. 

' '  The  nobly  born  are  not  the  only  noble ; 
There  is  a  line  more  royal,  more  majestic, 
Than  is  the  sceptred  line  of  mighty  crowns ; 
An  ancestry  so  bright  with  glorious  names 
That  he  who  truly  feels  himself  akin  to  such, 
May  stand  before  the  throne,  noble 
Amidst  the  noblest,  kingly  amid  kings. 
He  that  inherits  Honor,  Virtue,  Truth, 
Springs  from  a  lineage  next  to  the  divine, 
For  these  were  heirs  of  God;  and  we,  their  heirs, 
Prove  nearest  God  when  we  stand  next  to  them. 
Man  heir  to  these  is  rich,  and  wealth  may  bow 
To  greatness  it  can  cherish,  not  create."  SWAIN. 

THE  CONVENTION. 

I^HE  Eighth  National  Convention  of  the  Republican  party 
assembled  at  Chicago  on  Tuesday,  3d  June,  1884.  Its 
place  of  assemblage  was  the  large  hall  of  the  beautiful  Ex- 
position Building,  which  is  of  extraordinary  dimensions  and 
admirably  adapted  to  auch  a  meeting.  Some  of  the  most 
graphic  writers  upon  the  press  of  Chicago  supply  us  the  sub- 
joined description  of  the  hall  and  the  scenes  of  opening. 

"  The  elliptical  area  of  the  hall  in  which  the  delegates 
assembled,  the  lofty  walls  and  the  rising  of  the  tiers  of  seats 
resemble  somewhat  the  ancient  Coliseum  in  the  days  of  its 
glory;  but  in  another  respect  it  was  like  the  Flavian  reser- 


66  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

voir  on  which  the  great  amphitheater  was  built.  It  was  a 
reservoir  yesterday,  and  then  a  modern  Coliseum.  It  was  a 
reservoir  into  which  there  began  to  trickle  through  little 
leaks,  as  it  were,  from  the  great  human  flood  that  surged 
outside.  The  leaks  grew  into  rivulets,  and  these  into  streams 
and  torrents  as  the  swollen  waters  of  a  river  first  push  rills 
through  the  levees,  and  then,  growing  in  dimensions,  carry 
all  before  them. 

"And  then  the  reservoir  became  a  Coliseum.  The  hu- 
man tides  flowed  in  till  all  the  spaces  were  black  with  people. 
These  people  covered  the  level  floor ;  they  surged  up  and 
occupied  the  elevated  seats ;  they  swarmed  far  up  into  the 
high  galleries,  and  even  thronged  what  seemed  like  little 
dove  cotes  above  the  eaves  beneath  the  roof.  By  and  by  the 
surge  of  the  tides  ceased,  and  there  was  peace. 

"The  interior  of  the  hall  is  imposing  as  to  dimensions, 
fairly  good  as  to  proportions,  variegated  as  to  color,  and  in- 
artistic as  to  effects.  There  are  the  blue  of  the  rafters  and 
the  ceiling  of  the  roof;  the  dull  red  of  the  arches ;  the 
brown  of  the  barricades ;  and  staring  prominently  from  every- 
where the  red,  white,  and  blue  of  flag,  shield,  and  banner. 
There  is  no  blending  of  the  various  dyes  with  which  the  in- 
terior is  decorated.  Moral  harmony  amidst  such  intrusive 
accessories  will  be  heroic. 

"In  time,  after  the  citizens  had  taken  their  places,  the 
doors  of  the  arena  opened  wide,  and  the  gladiators  marched 
in.  They  were  shimmering  with  decorations,  which  were 
resplendent  with  all  the  colors  of  Iris.  The  crowd  recognized 
its  favorites,  and  gave  them  plaudits  as  did  the  Romans  their 
renowned  athletes.  The  first  who  attracted  attention,  and 


REP  UBLICAN  NO  Ml  N A  TIONS.  6  7 

who  got  a  hand  from  the  spectators,  was  a  short,  slender 
man  in  black,  who  jauntily  swung  a  soft  felt  hat  in  his  hands 
as  he  tripped  along.  His  hair  is  down  to  his  shoulders,  his 
face  open  and  smiling,  his  shirt-front  expansive  beyond  the 
requirements  of  the  temperature  or  the  fashion.  He  is  the 
ogre  of  Democratic  Virginia — Mahone.  He  is  so  light,  airy, 
insouciant,  so  delicate  as  to  waist  and  slender  as  to  foot  and 
hand  that  no  stranger  would  recognize  in  him  the  famous 
leader  of  the  cohorts  of  readjustment.  There  were  others  who 
were  recognized,  but  the  fates  were  hostile  to  an  entry  full  of 
dignity  and  in  which  the  heroes  were  individually  conspicuous. 
The  procession  was  hustled  in.  There  was  no  opportunity  for 
a  loftiness  of  carriage  or  dignity  of  personal  bearing.  All  of 
these  were  lost  in  the  jam.  The  contingent  from  the  Em- 
pire State  was  intensely  respectable  as  to  appearance,  noted 
men  all  of  them,  but  were  so  thrust  about  and  intertwisted 
that  they  were  scarcely  to  be  recognized  as  differing  from 
the  delegates  from  a  Territory  or  the  Far-West  States.  In 
time  all  had  ranged  themselves  beneath  the  banners  of  their 
respective  States,  and  the  convention  of  1884  was  called  to 
order. 

"  Whether  afflicted  by  the  inharmonious  colors,  or  the 
east  wind,  or  the  profundity  of  their  own  reflections,  the 
auditory  did  not  seem  inspirited.  Possibly  the  formalities 
of  the  opening  were  too  commonplace  for  them,  too  dull  to 
excite  their  interest.  The  great  masses  beyond  the  lobbies 
had  little  to  say.  They  evidently  were  waiting  for  the  real 
battle  to  begin.  They  understood  nothing  of  the  preliminary 
disposition  of  troops,  and  did  not  comprehend  that  the  out- 
come of  a  combat  may  often  be  settled  before  a  blow  is 


68  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

struck.     Clayton  and  Lynch  did  not  interest  them.     They 
did  not  suspect  that  there  was  maneuvering  for  position. 

"  But  there  was  a  lobby  that  seemed  to  possess  vitality 
and  lungs.  When  a  delegate  voted  for  Lynch  the  lobby  was 
exhilarated ;  when  somebody  else  announced  that  he  cast  his 
ballot  for  Clayton,  the  lobby  was  jubilant.  Taking  Lynch 
as  the  keynote,  there  was  a  psean  of  triumph ;  starting  at 
the  sounding  of  the  pitch  of  Clayton,  a  massive  chorus  took 
up  the  theme,  and  roared  it  till  the  blue  rafters  thrilled  with 
the  clamor. 

"  There  was  a  noticeable  level,  a  dead  sort  of  a  plane  of 
faces  with  nothing  to  distinguish  one  of  them  from  another. 
The  display  seen  from  the  front  was  that  of  a  floor  paved 
with  heads.  One  could  see  no  bodies,  no  hair,  only  the  up- 
turned faces,  creating  the  grotesque  impression  that  the  level 
was  covered  with  dissevered  heads.  From  out  these  there 
occasionally  shot  up  a  noticeable  figure.  George  W.  Curtis, 
of  New  York,  reared  himself  to  the  height  of  a  chair,  as  a 
tribune  from  which  to  speak.  Then  there  came  into  view  a 
man  of  medium  stature,  square  as  to  back  and  shoulders, 
gray,  bushy  side-whiskers,  smooth  upper  lip,  a  face  as  if  of 
wrinkled  parchment,  and  features  suggestive  of  a  combina- 
tion of  the  lineaments  of  Wendell  Phillips  and  William  H. 
Seward.  His  gray- white  hair  is  worn  short  behind  his  ears, 
and  nicely  banged  and  parted  in  the  middle  on  his  forehead. 
He  speaks  not  ungracefully,  with  great  self-possession,  and 
in  a  voice  which  has  some  of  the  tremolo  which  comes  from 
overuse. 

"Ajiother  figure  that  came  into  view  for  a  brief  second 
was  that  of  a  substantial  delegate,  who  rose,  said  "Lynch," 


REPUBLICAN  NOMINATIONS.  69 

and  seated  himself  in  a  flash.  The  face  and  head  are  mas- 
sive, filled  out  by  a  full  beard  and  unimpaired  headgear  of 
nature's  own  make.  The  face  is  calm,  modest,  self-reliant, 
and  indicative  in  its  composure  of  limitless  reserves  of 
strength.  Such  is  the  pilot,  Robert  Smalls,  of  South  Caro- 
lina, whose  gallant  achievements  during  the  war  have  given 
him  a  world-wide  renown. 

"Out  of  the  mass  rose,  betimes,  Illinois's  old  citizen, 
William  Pitt  Kellogg.  He  has  grown  gray;  his  organs  of 
ideality  and  veneration  are  denuded  of  their  hirsute  cover- 
ing, and  in  all  he  resembles  the  grandfather  of  himself  as 
in  the  troublous  days  of  reconstruction  his  prow  entered  the 
political  waters  of  Louisiana.  Pinchback,  tall,  stately,  and 
swart,  responded  to  the  imperative  conjuration  of  Lynch  or 
Clayton.  General  Carr,  of  Illinois,  rotund,  huge-voiced, 
genially  bald,  and  mustached,  came  up  from  the  mass  of 
heads,  and  was  cheered  for  his  effort.  Taft,  of  South  Caro- 
lina, rose  up  and  held  the  audience  for  a  brief  minute  with 
an  impassioned  utterance.  Young  Roosevelt,  of  New  York, 
stood  for  a  moment  on  a  chair,  and  one  saw  a  young  man 
of  less  than  medium  size,  with  eye-glasses,  reddish  as  to 
hair  and  complexion,  determined  in  the  cut  of  features, 
awkward  but  forcible  as  to  speech  and  gesture,  and  who  re- 
ceived a  round  of  applause  for  his  appearance.  Horr,  of 
Michigan,  small,  spectacled,  white  of  hair,  a  purplish-gray  of 
face,  smooth-shaven,  gentle  and  deprecatory  as  to  voice  and 
manner,  made  himself  heard  for  a  moment,  and  obtained  a 
cheer  for  his  effort.  When  he  voted  he  was  rapturously 
applauded  by  his  admirers,  and  seated  himself  as  if  he  were 
satisfied  that  all  were  serene. 


70  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOO  AN. 

"W.  Walter  Phelps,  of  New  Jersey,  said  'Clayton,'  when 
he  was  called  on  for  an  opinion  and  a  vote.  He  is  small,  in- 
telligent in  expression,  quick  in  motion,  and  retiring  in  ap- 
pearance. He  was  greeted  with  a  substantial  cheer  as  he 
took  his  seat.  When  Mahone  rose  to  his  feet  and  responded 
'Lynch,'  there  appeared  to  be  born  a  great  joy  among  some 
of  the  spectators  and  delegates.  Many  rose  to  their  feet 
and  threw  up  their  hats  and  cheered  again  and  again,  as  if 
the  millennium  had  now  truly  come,  and  the  dapper  little 
gentleman  were  the  one  who  had  brought  it.  He  bore  his 
honors  well,  and  smiled,  bowed,  and  waved  his  thanks  as 
gracefully  as  if  he  were  Irving  himself  responding  to  a  final 
call  before  the  curtain  on  the  last  night  of  a  successful  engage- 
ment. Flanagan,  of  Texas,  was  duly  recognized,  and  so  was 
the  voting  for  Clayton  by  some  of  the  colored  delegates 
from  Mr.  Flanagan's  State. 

"Lynch  is  a  small  man,  about  as  dark  as  a  Frenchman, 
and  lighter  than  a  Spaniard.  He  has  square  shoulders,  an 
oval  face,  a  good  forehead,  large,  dark,  handsome  eyes,  a 
coal-black  mustache  and  chin  whiskers.  He  has  a  clear 
voice  which  reaches  well  out  through  the  vast  audience.  He 
gestures  little,  speaks  without  hesitation,  and  it  may  be  said 
to  his  credit  and  that  of  his  race,  that,  as  an  orator,  he 
ranks  below  no  man  who  at  the  first  day's  session  addressed 
the  convention." 

The  following  pencil  sketch  of  the  scenes  at  the  opening 
is  furnished  by  another  Chicago  journalist : 

"  The  crowd  that  filled  the  house  numbered  between  six 
thousand  and  seven  thousand  persons,  about  seven  hundred 
being  females.  It  was  sad  to  see  the  number  of  unoccupied 


REP  VBLICAN  NOMINA  T10NS.  7 1 

seats  in  the  lower  end  of  the  building,  and  remember  the 
crowds  of  people  outside  who  would  have  made  almost  any 
kind  of  a  sacrifice  for  them.  The  only  people  in  the  vast 
throng  who  were  not  alert  were  the  delegates.  They  came 
straggling  along  in  all  sorts  of  order,  some  alone  and  some 
in  squads  of  six  and  eight.  The  New  York  men  came  in 
en  masse,  and  were  handsome  and  fair  to  look  upon.  They 
were  all  fine-looking  fellows,  well  dressecl,  and  polished,  and 
almost  every  man  was  shod  in  new,  French  calf,  low-cut 
shoes.  They  carried  themselves  like  so  many  Stalwarts, 
and  their  very  bearing  was  Oriental.  As  a  rule,  they  were 
serious,  taciturn,  and  the  far-away  look  in  some  of  their 
eyes  did  not  portend  the  greatest  assurance  of  success. 
The  leader  was  Mr.  George  William  Curtis,  with  his  handsome 
white  whiskers  and  blue-edged  handkerchief,  daintily  per- 
fumed with  sweet-pea.  He  had  on  his  arm  Theodore  Roose- 
velt, who  bowed  right  and  left  to  delegates  and  newspaper  men. 
"The  Georgia  delegates  were  modest  and  so  shy  that 
they  came  in  softly,  sat  down  quietly,  folded  their  hands, 
and  looked  as  demure  as  though  preparing  for  some  relig- 
ious exercise  of  a  solemn  character. 

"  Three  black-eyed,  broad-shouldered  Missourians  came 
next,  and  by  the  time  they  had  found  comfortable  quarters 
all  the  Ohio  men  appeared,  some  with  toothpicks,  some  with 
rolls  of  papers,  and  not  a  few  gloved,  and  as  trim  and 
spruce  as  so  many  cadets.  The  Nevada  men  were  as  bald 
as  some  of  their  own  mountain-tops ;  the  California  folks 
looked  well-fed  and  well-to-do;  the  Connecticut  men  were 
nearly  all  dyspeptics;  the  Arizonians  all  strange;  while  the 
familiarity  of  the  Iowa  men  was  equally  remarkable. 


72  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOO  AN. 

"Any  one  could  tell  that  the  Virginia  fellows  had 
been  in  some  kind  of  mischief  the  night  before,  for  they 
came  in  with  eyes  downcast  and  saw  nobody  till  they  were 
seated. 

"The  Illinois  folk  did  not  arrive  till  after  twelve  o'clock. 
They  looked  plump  and  rosy,  and  as  one  of  the  men  had  a 
bit  of  strawberry  shortcake  on  his  chin,  it  was  the  inference 
that  they  had  luncned  first. 

"  Senator  Mahone  with  a  fan  in  his  hand,  his  lip  in  his 
mouth,  and  a  buttercup  in  his  lapel,  lead  the  van.  This  del- 
egation moved  the  house  to  plaudits,  which  the  senator 
acknowledged  with  a  low  bow  and  gracious  smile. 

"  The  Rhode  Islanders,  almost  as  small  as  their  State, 
came  in  behind  the  Massachusetts  people,  and  about  that 
time  Governor  Oglesby,  white,  smiling,  and  serene,  came  in 
through  the  press  door  and  went  upon  the  stage,  where  he 
was  seated  in  the  front  row. 

"Miss  Phoebe  Couzins  led  the  way  for  her  distin- 
guished-looking father,  who  was  trying  very  hard  to  see 
somebody  over  his  left  shoulder. 

"As  the  musicians  in  Hand's  orchestra  struck  up  a 
march  there  was  a  general  tnrning  of  heads,  and  really  the 
rudeness  was  pardonable,  for  the  picture  was  magnificent. 
There  was  a  perfect  sea  of  faces;  faces  belonging  to  beauti- 
ful women  and  intellectual  men;  the  house  was  flooded  with 
light ;  gay  little  fans  swayed  to  and  fro  wafting  the  perfume 
from  a  thousand  fragrant  flowers  that  ornamented  corsage 
and  lapel. 

"There  were  no  women  on  the  main  floor,  which  was  re- 
served for  the  delegates.  There  were  two  noticeable  fea- 


REPUBLICAN  NOMINATIONS.  73 

tures  about  this  great  body  of  men ;  they  were  all  as  quiet 
and  as  bald  as  so  many  babies.  The  boxes  on  either  side 
of  the  house  were  reserved  for  guests.  The  most  distin- 
guished ones,  however,  had  been  assigned  to  chairs  back  of 
the  stage. 

"  There  was  a  little  storm  of  excitement  among  the 
leaders  when  Senator  Sabin  appeared  on  the  platform  and 
began  to  rearrange  the  floral  design  that  some  one  had 
placed  on  the  chairman's  table.  The  fair  creatures  mistook 
him  for  Senator  Logan,  and  his  heavy  black  mustache,  pale 
face,  and  bright  eyes  became  the  topic  of  conversation.  A 
search  was  then  made  for  Mrs.  Logan,  who  was  not  found. 

"  The  entrance  of  Powell  Clayton  was  a  signal  for  ap- 
plause. He  wore  a  glossy,  well-fitting  coat,  and  his  empty 
sleeve  won  the  hearts  of  the  women  instantly.  His  face 
was  almost  as  pale  as  his  white  mustache  and  heavy 
goatee. 

"  The  female  portion  of  the  audience  was  restless  long 
before  the  chairman  was  elected,  and  doubtless  many  were 
disappointed.  One  young  woman  wanted  to  see  "the  dark 
horse."  Another  nearly  blinded  herself  with  a  poor  opera- 
glass  looking  for  Elaine.  She  had  found,  as  she  thought, 
Arthur,  Conkling,  and  Mayor  Harrison,  and,  although  she 
carried  a  photograph  of  the  ex-Secretary  of  State,  had  failed 
in  finding  the  original  up  to  two  o'clock. 

"  A  box  full  of  ladies  '  got  hungry  as  bears,'  although 
they  had  been  masticating  caramels  and  chocolate  creams 
for  an  hour  or  more.  They  agreed  to  draw  lots  to  see  who 
should  go  out  for  some  sandwiches.  The  politician  of  the 
group  lost,  and,  collecting  some  forty  cents,  went  off  'to 


74  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOG  AN. 

the  Crawford  for  some  nice  tongue  sandwiches/  but,  like  the 
Three  Fishermen,  she  never  came  back  any  more. 

"  Girls  with  tally-sheets  and  gold  pencils  grew  weary  of 
waiting,  and  some  of  them  nibbled  off  the  corners  of  the 
pasteboard  for  want  of  something  better.  The  inconsist- 
ency of  woman  was  shown  in  the  galleries,  where  ladies  for 
Elaine  wore  Arthur  badges,  because,  as  one  said,  '  They 
were  so  sweet,  and  would  do  for  patch-work.' 

"When  at  last  the  roll-call  was  over  and  John  R.  Lynch, 
of  Mississippi,  was  declared  elected  chairman  of  the  Re- 
publican Convention  they  clapped  their  little  gloves  together 
and  prepared  to  be  interested,  but  great  was  the  dismay  in 
the  west  boxes  when  he  was  found  to  be  '  not  white.' 

"  Mr.  Lynch  is  a  slender  man  of  the  average  height, 
with  narrow  shoulders,  long  head,  and  high  forehead.  Be- 
sides being  an  easy,  graceful,  and  terse  speaker,  he  is  a  man 
of  fine  executive  ability,  intolerant  of  the  slightest  disorder, 
but  with  all  his  decisiveness  and  persistency  he  is  amiable, 
firm,  and  patient.  That  Senator  Clayton  felt  his  defeat 
keenly  was  evident,  for  as  he  passed  the  writer,  escorting 
Lynch  to  the  chair,  his  face  was  deathly  pale,  his  hand 
trembled,  and  the  tremor  in  his  lip  was  perceptible  from  be- 
neath his  heavy  mustache.  As  he  returned  from  the  ros- 
trum after  the  address  of  Lynch  he  was  greeted  by  scores 
of  friends.  Governor  Oglesby  and  ex-Governor  Beveridge 
reached  over  the  stage  gallery  to  shake  hands  with  him, 
and  even  Norman  Williams  patted  him  on  the  back,  and  told 
him  to  be  of  good  cheer." 

At  twenty-five  minutes  past  twelve,  noon,  Senator 
Dwight  M.  Sabin,  of  Minnesota,  chairman  of  the  National 


REPUBLICAN  NOMINATIONS.  75 

Republican  Committee,  rapped  with  his  gavel  upon  the  desk 
from  which  the  nomination  of  James  A.  Garfield  was 
announced  four  years  ago.  When  comparative  quiet  was 
gained,  he  addressed  the  assemblage  as  follows : 

"  Gentlemen  of  the  Eighth  Republican  National  Convention : 
The  hour  having  arrived  appointed  for  the  meeting  of  this 
convention  it  will  now  be  opened  with  prayer  by  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Bristol." 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  prayer,  Secretary  Martin,  of 
the  National  Committee,  read  the  formal  call  for  the  Con- 
vention. Then  Chairman  Sabin  addressed  the  delegates  in 
the  following  eloquent  words  : 

"  Gentlemen  of  the  Convention :  On  behalf  of  the  Na- 
tional Republican  Committee  permit  me  to  welcome  you  to 
Chicago.  As  chairman  of  that  committee,  it  is  both  my 
duty  and  pleasure  to  call  you  to  order  as  a  National  Repub- 
lican Convention.  This  city,  already  known  as  the  City  of 
Conventions,  is  amongst  the  most  cherished  of  all  the  spots 
of  our  country,  sacred  to  the  memories  of  a  Republican.  It 
is  the  birthplace  of  Republican  victory.  On  these  fields  of 
labor  gathered  the  early  fathers  of  our  political  faith  and 
planned  the  great  battle  for  the  preservation  of  the  Union. 
[Applause.]  Here  they  cho^e  that  immortal  chief  that  led 
us  on  to  victory — Abraham  Lincoln.  [Cheers.]  Here  were 
gathered  in  council  those  gifted  men  who  secured  the  fruits 
of  that  long  struggle  by  elevating  to  the  first  place  in  the 
Nation  the  foremost  chieftain  of  that  great  contest — General 
Grant.  [Cheers.]  Here  was  afterwards  witnessed  that 
signal  triumph  which  anticipated  the  wish  of  the  Nation  by 
nominating  as  color-bearer  of  the  party  that  honored 


76  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

soldier,  that  shining  citizen,  that  representative  American, 
James  A.  Garfield.  [Long  continued  cheers.]  Every  de- 
liberation of  Republican  forces  on  this  historic  ground  has 
been  followed  by  signal  success.  [Applause.]  And  every 
contest  planned  on  this  spot  has  carried  forward  our  line 
of  battle  until  to-day  our  banners  overlook  every  position  of 
the  enemy. 

"  Indeed,  so  secure  now  is  the  integrity  of  the  Union,  so 
firmly  embodied  in  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the  land 
are  the  safeguards  of  individual  liberty,  so  fairly  and  fully 
achieved  is  the  past,  that  by  general  consent  the  time  has 
now  arrived  for  new  dispositions  of  the  party  forces  in  con- 
templation of  new  lines  of  operation. 

"  Having  compassed  the  defeat  of  our  opponents  on  all 
former  occasions,  the  party  is  about  to  set  its  house  in 
order  and  take  counsel  as  to  the  direction  and  management 
of  its  future  course.  In  the  comparative  lull  of  party 
strife  which  distinguishes  the  present  condition  of  National 
politics,  there  is  observable  an  increasing  disposition  to  look 
after  the  men  who  are  to  execute  and  the  methods  that  are 
to  guide  them  in  the  execution  of  the  powers  committed  to 
them  for  the  management  of  the  affairs  of  the  Republic. 

"As  the  result  of  a  rule  adopted  in  the  last  National  Con- 
vention this  convention  finds  itself  constituted  by  a  large 
majority  of  gentlemen  who  have  been  clothed  with  delegated 
powers  by  conventions  in  their  several  congressional  districts. 
On  this  consideration  may  be  grounded  a  hope  that  the 
voice  of  the  people  [applause]  will,  beyond  recent  precedent, 
be  felt  in  molding  the  work  you  are  summoned  to  perform, 
so  that  its  results  may  be  such  as  to  win  the  unhesitating 


REP  US LIC AN  NOMINA  TIONS.  7  7 

• 

and  undeviating  support  of  every  lover  of  those  principles 
by  which  the  party  has  heretofore  triumphed  and  yet  will 
triumph.  [Applause.] 

"When  we  consider  the  memories  of  the  past,  so  inti- 
mately connected  with  this  city,  and  even  with  this  edifice, 
which  the  people  of  Chicago  have  so  generously  placed  at 
your  disposal,  when  we  reflect  upon  the  deep-seated  concern 
among  all  people  in  the  result  of  your  deliberations,  and  the 
various  incentives  to  the  abandonment  of  personal  ambitions 
in  the  interest  of  the  party  welfare,  you  can  not  wonder 
that  the  committee,  and  beyond  it  the  great  Republican 
masses,  extend  you  a  most  hearty  welcome  to  this  scene  of 
labor,  in  the  confident  hope  that  your  efforts  will  result  in 
such  an  exposition  of  Republican  doctrine  and  disclose  such 
a  just  appreciation  of  Republican  men  in  the  choice  of  your 
nominees  as  to  rejoice  the  hearts  of  your  constituents  and 
keep  victory  on  the  side  of  our  ever  victorious  banners."  [Ap- 
plause.] 

There  was  a  spirited  contest  over  the  election  of  tem- 
porary chairman  of  the  convention.  Chairman  Sabin  pro- 
posed as  the  nominee  of  the  National  Committee,  Hon. 
Powell  Clayton,  of  Arkansas.  Hon.  Henry  Cabot  Lodge,  of 
Massachusetts,  placed  in  nomination  Hon.  John  R.  Lynch, 
of  Mississippi.  This  was  in  contravention  of  the  precedents 
of  forty-four  years,  during  all  of  which  time  it  has  been  the 
custom  for  the  National  Committee  to  name  the  temporary 
chairman  of  conventions.  It  led  to  extended  debate,  which 
was  characterized  by  considerable  eloquence,  but  no  exhibi- 
tions of  bad  temper.  Upon  a  call  of  the  roll  it  was  found 
that  of  eight  hundred  and  eighteen  votes  cast,  Hon.  John  R. 


78  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

Lynch  received  four  hundred  and  thirty-one;  Hon.  Powell 
Clayton  three  hundred  and  eighty-seven. 

THE  CHAIRMAN. — Mr.  John  R.  Lynch  having  received  a 
majority  of  the  votes  of  this  convention  is  declared  the 
nominee. 

GEN.  CLAYTON. — Mr.  Chairman,  I  move  to  make  the  elec- 
tion of  Mr.  Lynch  unanimous. 

The  motion  was  carried. 

THE  CHAIRMAN. — John  R.  Lynch  is  declared  the  tempo- 
rary chairman  of  this  convention.  The  chair  will  appoint  as 
a  committee  to  escort  Mr.  Lynch  to  the  platform  Gen.  Powell 
Clayton,  of  Arkansas,  Henry  Cabot  Lodge,  of  Massachusetts, 
and  Mr.  Taft,  of  South  Carolina.  The  gentlemen  will  please 
wait  upon  Mr.  Lynch  to  the  platform. 

The  committee  escorted  Mr.  Lynch  to  the  platform  amid 
great  applause. 

THE  CHAIRMAN. — Gentlemen  of  the  convention,  I  have  the 
honor  and  the  great  pleasure  to  present  to  you  as  tempo- 
rary chairman  of  this  convention  the  Hon.  John  R.  Lynch, 
of  Mississippi.  [Applause.] 

Mr.  Lynch  on  assuming  the  chair  addressed  the  conven- 
tion as  follows  : 

"  Gentlemen  of  the  Convention :  I  feel  that  I  ought  not  to 
say  that  I  thank  you  for  the  distinguished  honor  which  you 
have  conferred  upon  me,  for  I  do  not.  Nevertheless,  from 
a  standpoint  that  no  patriot  should  fail  to  respond  to  his 
country's  call,  and  that  no  loyal  member  of  his  party  should 
fail  to  comply  with  the  demands  of  his  party,  I  yield  with 
reluctance  to  your  decision,  and  assume  the  duties  of  the 
position  to  which  you  have  assigned  me.  [Applause.] 


REPUBLICAN  NOMINATIONS  79 

Every  member  of  this  convention  who  approached  me  upon 
this  subject  within  the  last  few  hours  knows  that  this  posi- 
tion was  neither  expected  nor  desired  by  me.  If,  therefore, 
there  is  any  such  thing  as  a  man  having  honors  thrust  upon 
him,  you  have  an  exemplification  of  it  in  this  instance.  [Ap- 
plause.] 

"  I  wish  to  say,  gentlemen,  that  I  came  to  this  conven- 
tion not  so  much  for  the  purpose  of  securing  the  defeat  of 
any  man  or  the  success  of  any  man,  but  for  the  purpose  of 
contributing  to  the  extent  of  my  vote  and  my  influence  to 
make  Republican  success  in  November  next  an  assured  fact. 
[Applause.]  I  hope  and  believe  that  the  assembled  wisdom 
of  the  Republican  party  of  this  Nation,  through  its  chosen 
representatives  in  this  hall,  will  so  shape  our  policy  and  will 
present  such  candidates  before  the  American  people  as  will 
make  that  victory  beyond  the  shadow  of  a  doubt.  [Ap- 
plause.] 

"  I  wish  to  say,  so  far  as  the  different  candidates  for  the 
presidential  nomination  are  concerned,  that  I  do  not  wish 
any  gentleman  to  feel  that  my  election  by  your  votes  is  in- 
dicative of  any  thing  relative  to  the  preference  of  one  can- 
didate over  another.  [Applause.]  I  am  prepared,  and  I 
hope  that  every  member  of  this  convention  is  prepared,  to 
return  to  his  home  with  an  unmistakable  determination  to 
give  the  candidates  of  this  convention  a  loyal  and  hearty 
support,  whoever  they  may  be.  [Applause.]  Gentlemen 
of  the  convention,  I  am  satisfied  in*  my  own  mind  that 
when  we  go  before  the  people  of  this  country  our  action 
will  be  ratified,  because  the  great  heart  of  the  American 
people  will  never  consent  for  any  political  party  to  gain  the 


80  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

ascendency  in  this  government  whose  chief  reliance  for 
that  support  is  a  fraudulent  ballot  and  violence  at  the  polls. 
[Applause.]  I  am  satisfied  that  the  people  of  this  country 
are  too  loyal  ever  to  allow  a  man  to  be  inaugurated  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  whose  title  to  the  position  may 
be  brought  forth  in  fraud  and  whose  garments  may  be  sat- 
urated with  the  innocent  blood  of  hundreds  of  his  country- 
men. [Applause  and  cheers.]  I  am  satisfied  that  the 
American  people  will  ratify  our  action,  because  they  will 
never  consent  to  a  revenue  system  in  this  government 
otherwise  than  that  which  will  not  only  raise  the  necessary 
revenue  for  its  support,  but  will  also  be  sufficient  to  protect 
every  American  citizen  in  this  country.  [Applause.] 

"  Gentlemen,  not  for  myself,  but  perhaps  in  obedience  to 
custom,  I  thank  you  for  the  honor  you  have  conferred  upon 
me."  [Applause.] 

The  further  proceedings  of  the  first  day's  session  were 
wholly  routine,  consisting  of  the  appointment  of  honorary 
officers,  the  arrangement  of  the  various  committees,  discus- 
sion of  rules  and  the  introduction  of  some  unimportant  reso- 
lutions. By  some  friends  of  other  candidates,  the  election 
of  Lynch  to  the  temporary  chairmanship  was  construed  as 
inimical  to  Elaine,  but  it  had  no  such  significance,  as  the 
subsequent  proceedings  proved.  Unless  considered  discour- 
teous to  the  National  Committee,  the  selection  was  probably 
as  good  as  could  have  been  made. 


REP  UBLICAN  NOMINA  T10NS.  8 1 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  REPUBLICAN  NOMINATIONS. 

"If  I  am  asked  who  is  the  greatest  man,  I  answer  the  best;  and  if  I 
am  required  to  say  who  is  the  best,  I  reply,  he  that  has  deserved  most 
of  his  fellow-creatures."  SIR  WILLIAM  JONES. 

THE  CONVENTION— CONTINUED. 

A  CORRESPONDENT  kindly  furnishes  the  following 
general  view  of  the  second  day's  proceedings: 

"  There  was  something  in  the  atmosphere  of  the  hall  at 
the  beginning  of  the  second  day's  session  quite  different 
from  that  of  the  opening  day.  There  was  a  suggestion  of 
eagerness  and  expectancy  in  the  faces  of  all.  The  audience 
was  charged  as  if  with  a  sort  of  moral  or  mental  electricity. 
The  contact  of  negative  and  positive  points  was  incessant, 
and  gave  out  sparks  which,  while  not  always  seen  were 
felt.  There  was  a  charged  battery,  of  which  the  delegates 
were  the  chemical  components,  \which  made  its  currents  felt, 
now  in  tingling  anticipation,  now  in  shocks  which  permeated 
the  entire  audience.  As  if  in  expectation  of  something  un- 
usual there  had  been  some  more  flags  added,  with  the  result 
to  still  more  confuse  the  eye  with  multifarious  hues,  and 
to  add  still  more  incompatible  details  to  the  inharmoni- 
ous whole. 

"  There  were  more  ladies  in  the  boxes,  the  galleries,  and 
on  the  sloping  stage.  There  was  a  gorgeous  bouquet  on  the 


82  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

chairman's  desk,  one  both  fragrant  and  sightly,  and  by  the 
side  of  which  the  complexion  of  the  swarthy  occupant  be- 
came imbued  with  a  yellow  tinge.  The  opening  prayer 
was  quite  as  eloquent  as  the  day  before,  although  not  so 
clear  an  exposition  of  the  political  situation.  The  crowd 
around  the  press-table  was,  as  before,  three  reporters  to 
each  seat,  with  one-third  of  the  seats  vacant,  and  held  for 
some  one  who  did  not  come. 

"  The  usual  cargo  of  resolutions  arrived,  and  its  charac- 
ter was  duly  announced  in  detail  by  the  patient  chairman 
and  partly  listened  to  by  the  impatient  audience.  An 
amendment  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  seems 
to  be  in  the  nature  of  a  catholicon  for  all  evils,  or  at  least 
is  so  regarded  by  innumerable  people.  By  and  by  there 
came  a  resolution  which,  unlike  all  its  predecessors,  attracted 
some  attention.  Mr.  Hawkins,  of  Tennessee,  was  the  gen- 
tleman who  secured  the  first  general  hearing  for  a  resolu- 
tion. It  was  the  same  as  that  of  Conkling  four  years  ago, 
pledging  the  delegates  to  support  the  nominations.  Hawkins 
is  rather  a  fine-looking  man.  Tall,  with  a  long,  flowing, 
light-brown  beard;  well-formed,  and  broad  of  chest,  clad  in 
a  tight-fitting  black  frock-coat,  as  is  ever  the  fashion  in  the 
South,  he  presented  a  rather  imposing  appearance,  as  he 
stood  upon  a  chair  and  argued  his  resolution. 

"  Mr.  Knight,  of  California,  favored  the  resolution  in  a 
vehement  address.  He  was  effective  as  a  speaker;  he  is 
broad,  solid,  with  a  good  head,  a  brown  mustache  above 
gleaming  teeth,  and  a  voice  full  of  feeling,  and  far-reaching. 
Conspicuous  from  his  size  and  the  intensity  of  his  utter- 
ances, he  secured  silence  and  universal  attention.  When 


REPUBLICAN  NOMINATIONS.  83 

with  long,  swinging  gestures  he  hurled  a  defiance  at  the 
"editors  of  newspapers,"  or  "great  weekly  periodicals," 
there  was  the  first  electric  shock  poured  through  the  audi- 
ence, and  all  eyes  were  at  once  turned  on  the  seats  of  the 
New  York  delegation.  Curtis  was  on  his  feet  at  this  allu- 
sion, and  for  the  first  time  seemed  to  have  lost  his  profound 
indifference.  His  gray  eyes  were  flashing  angrily,  his 
fingers  were  clinching  in  his  palm  and  opening  nervously, 
and  he  presented  the  appearance  of  an  enraged  tiger-cat 
about  to  spring  on  some  intruder.  When  the  gentleman 
from  California  had  finished,  the  editor  of  a  "great  weekly 
periodical "  gained  the  altitude  of  the  seat  of  his  chair  and 
turned  his  back  to  the  audience  so  as  to  face  the  delegates. 
He  was  evidently  a  trifle  angry ;  his  voice  was  deep  and 
hoarse,  the  expression  on  his  face  intense,  and  the  light  in 
his  eyes  was  a  blue,  steely  incandescence.  He  spoke  at  his 
best.  The  intensity  of  his  feelings  was  transferred  to  his 
words,  and  the  effect  was  like  a  series  of  electric  shocks. 
When  he  sat  down  the  roof  echoed  again  and  again  the 
roars  of  his  admirers. 

"  There  is  something  kaleidoscopic  about  Curtis.  The 
day  before,  his  face  seemed  made  up  of  features  taken 
from  Wendell  Phillips  and  William  H.  Seward.  Yesterday 
he  had  lost  these,  and  one  could  readily  detect  in  his  coun- 
tenance a  mixture  of  Gladstone  and  James  Russell  Lowell. 
Does  he  shadow  forth  these  men  according  to  the  mood  in 
which  he  happens  to  be  ?  It  may  even  be  possible  that  in 
the  eyes  of  the  gentleman  from  California,  who  called  him  to 
his  feet,  the  editor  of  a  "great  weekly  periodical"  may  pre- 
sent the  gleaming  and  suggestive  features  of  a  Catiline. 


84      LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOO  AN. 

"  Mr.  Lynch  laid  down  his  gavel,  and  his  place  was  taken 
by  Henderson.  The  audience  saw,  as  the  latter  was  being 
escorted  to  his  place,  a  tall,  slender  gentleman,  whose  figure, 
close-clipped  beard  and  mustache,  and  compact  head,  remind 
one  of  General  Sherman.  He  is  fairly  tonsured  by  nature  on 
the  crown  of  his  head — possibly  an  unintended  but  never- 
theless apropos  species  of  consecration  for  the  duties  of  the 
high  position  to  which  he  has  been  elevated  by  the  conven- 
tion. His  face  is  rather  a  finished  one ;  there  have  been  left 
no  rugged  prominences  or  undue  protuberances ;  there  is  a 
suggestion  of  energy  in  the  countenance,  but  nothing  of  rude 
strength  or  grinding  friction.  He  commenced  to  read  his 
address  in  a  voice  which  was  hoarse  from  a  cold  or  embarrass- 
ment. Those  in  the  vicinity  listened  politely  for  a  few  mo- 
ments, but  finding  that  they  could  hear  only  an  occasional 
fraction  of  a  sentence  they  gave  their  attention  to  something 
else,  and  resolved  to  get  the  remarks  from  the  newspapers. 
The  speaker  took  a  sip  or  two  of  water,  and  his  voice  im- 
proved. It  extended  further  and  further  from  the  desk,  and 
soon  reached  far  into  the  black  mass  that  rolled  on  beyond 
the  delegates.  And  now,  suddenly,  those  who  had  resolved  to 
wait  and  read  his  speech  in  the  morning  papers  found  them- 
selves listening.  He  began  to  speak  of  the  men  whom  the 
convention  had  for  a  choice  of  candidates.  He  spoke  of 
what  Vermont  had  to  offer,  and  there  was  a  fair  wave  of 
enthusiasm  that  swept  over  the  audience  in  the  shape  of 
cheers  and  waving  of  hankerchiefs.  Illinois  was  mentioned, 
and  the  services  of  her  "  favorite  son "  on  the  battle-field 
and  in  official  life  were  hinted  at,  and  the  response  from  the 
delegations  was  emphatic  in  one  or  two  localities,  but  did  not 


REP  UBLICAN  NOMINA  TIONS.  8  5 

make  any  excursions  outside  of  the  barricade  among  the 
people.  New  York  was  gracefully  mentioned  as  one  of  the 
States  which  is.  in  a  position  to  furnish  what  the  convention 
and  the  party  need  to  win  the  coming  battle.  And  then  the 
uproar  began.  Portions  of  the  delegates  cheered  vocifer- 
ously, and  here  and  there  from  out  the  distant  masses  there 
came  roars  of  approval.  And  then  in  choice  and  elegant 
language  he  brought  up  Maine,  and  eulogized  the  gift  to  the 
Nation  which  that  State  is  prepared  to  make. 

"  In  a  second  a  majority  of  the  delegates,  the  long  blocks 
of  people  to  the  right  and  left,  to  the  rear,  and  from  gallery 
to  gallery,  and  from  pit  to  dome,  were  on  their  feet,  and  the 
grand  structure  rocked  with  the  thunders  of  the  cheers  ! 
The  air  was  white  and  black  with  waving  hankerchiefs  and 
flying  hats.  It  was  a  veritable  thunder-storm  of  enthusiasm. 
It  rolled  from  horizon  to  horizon  of  the  hall,  it  roared  up  the 
cloud-banks  of  people  to  the  zenith  of  the  roof,  and  as  it  died 
away  it  was  taken  up  and  again  and  again  repeated  till  it 
seemed  as  if  the  storm  were  without  end  !  What  was  most 
apparent  in  this  tumultuous  outburst  was,  that  it  was  with- 
out the  slightest  premonition.  It  came  as  unexpectedly  as 
a  flash  of  lightning  sometimes  does  out  of  a  clear  sky.  It 
was  spontaneous  and  unpremeditated  as  is  the  fall  of  a  stone 
to  the  earth  when  its  support  is  withdrawn.  One  instant, 
the  vast  audience  had  possibly  not  even  the  thought  of 
Blaine  in  its  minds,  and  the  next  it  was  wild  with  an  en- 
thusiasm which  even  those  who  were  most  affected  could 
not  wholly  explain. 

"  The  speaker  closed  his  address,  after  the  repeated  and 
long  drawn-out  enthusiasm  of  the  people  would  permit  him 


86  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

to  resume,  by  an  allusion  to  what  was  within  the  reach  of 
Ohio  in  the  person  of  one  who  is  distinguished  as  a  patriot, 
and  the  greatest  of  living  soldiers,  and  who  might  be  avail- 
able in  case  the  demand  of  the  States  for  a  leader  should 
fall  upon  Ohio.  There  was  considerable  hurrahing  over  this 
allusion  to  the  warrior  member  of  the  Sherman  family,  but 
nothing  so  enthusiastic  as  over  the  proffered  gift  of  Maine. 
How  far  the  compliments  of  the  chairman  to  General  Sher- 
man were  intended  as  a  civility  to  a  great  captain,  and  how 
far  as  an  attempt  to  familiarize  the  people  with  the  name  of 
a  possible  candidate  is  something  which  was  not  precisely  in 
the  address. 

"  The  two  episodes  referred  to  rescued  the  morning  hour 
from  any  thing  like  stagnation.  The  attempt  to  make  the 
delegates  agree  to  bind  themselves  to  sustain  the  nomina- 
tion, whoever  it  might  be,  found  an  indignant  opponent  in 
Curtis,  who  asserted  that  he  was  a  free  man  and  needed  no 
chains  to  bind  his  honor.  He  denounced  the  intended  move- 
ment as  an  insult  to  every  member  of  the  convention,  and 
did  it  so  effectively  that  he  carried  the  sympathies  of  the 
delegates  and  the  audience  with  him,  and  placed  himself  in 
the  very  front  of  the  speakers  who  have  thus  far  obtained  a 
hearing.  The  Elaine  episode  shows  the  inflammable  nature 
of  the  people ;  one  moment  the  vast  assembly-room  was  of  a 
twilight  obscurity,  and  the  next  it  was  blazing  in  every  por- 
tion of  its  space.  To  kindle  them,  as  in  the  case  of  certain 
matches,  it  is  only  necessary  to  scratch  them  on  the  proper 
chemical  surface.  In  the  present  case,  the  Maine  chemical 
composition  seems  to  have  been  the  one  needed  to  secure  the 
ignition  of  the  masses. 


REPUBLICAN  NOMINATIONS.  87 

"At  night  the  convention  was  slow  in  assembling,  and 
still  slower  in  coming  to  order  after  the  hall  was  filled. 
Despite  the  thunder-storm  and  the  pouring  rain,  every  seat 
was  taken,  the  women  turning  out  in  immense  force. 
The  gaslights  and  the  gay  colors  of  the  lady  visitors  were 
exhilarating,  the  audience  was  cheerful,  and  there  were  fond 
anticipations  of  an  evening  of  sensational  enjoyment.  The 
square  jaws  and  resolute  mouth  of  young  Roosevelt  were 
detected  in  close  proximity  to  the  ear  of  the  chairman; 
Curtis  was  surrounded  in  one  of  the  aisles  by  a  mysterious 
crowd  of  half  a  dozen  ;  the  gigantic  Ex-Congressman  Donnan, 
of  Iowa,  was  seen  to  be  engaged  in  whispered  interviews 
with  some  members  of  the  press,  from  all  of  which  acute 
observers  were  led  to  conclude  that  the  prospects  were  ex- 
cellent for  a  lively  evening  session. 

"  Matthews,  of  the  Illinois  contingent,  caught  the  eye 
of  the  chairman,  and  sent  up  a  resolution  that  500  addi- 
tional entrance-tickets  be  printed  for  the  use  of  veteran 
soldiers  who  might  be  in  the  city.  The  mover  then  pro- 
ceeded to  describe  the  condition  of  the  veterans  who  had 
come  here  from  all  parts  of  the  Union  to  witness  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  assemblage.  When  assured  that  a  ticket  for 
every  seat  in  the  hall  had  been  sold,  Mr.  Matthews  movingly 
implored  that  the  travel-worn  veterans  be  permitted  to  occupy 
a  seat  here  and  there  when  the  regular  owner  was  absent, 
and  the  remainder  of  the  time  they  could  lie  about  the  porti- 
coes on  the  outside  of  the  building.  Somehow  the  delegates 
did  not  take  kindly  to  the  movement.  There  was  a  sarcastic 
motion  that  the  distribution  of  the  additional  tickets  be  given 
to  the  Illinois  delegation,  whereat  there  was  much  laughter. 


88  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

"  The  debate  over  the  resolution  drew  out  several  speak- 
ers, but  none  were  friendly  save  a  venerable  colored  dele- 
gate from  Florida,  Mr.  Lee,  who  beamed  benevolently  over 
the  great  audience  through  enormous  spectacles,  and  mag- 
nanimously proposed,  as  there  are  no  veterans  from  his 
State,  the  tickets  due  the  delegation  should  be  given  to 
some  State  which  has  veterans  of  its  own." 

The  routine  proceedings  previous  to  the  permanent  or- 
ganization were  not  important,  except  to  those  immediately 
interested.  They  consisted  in  the  introduction  of  miscella- 
neous resolutions  and  much  desultory  discussion.  General 
John  B.  Henderson,  of  Missouri,  was  selected  as  permanent 
president,  and  Hon.  Charles  W.  Clisbee,  of  Michigan,  as 
permanent  secretary.  The  regulation  number  of  vice-presi- 
dents and  honorary  secretaries  were  also  reported.  Upon  as- 
suming the  chair,  President  Henderson  addressed  the  conven- 
tion as  follows : 

"  Gentlemen  of  the  Convention :  We  have  assembled  on 
this  occasion  to  survey  the  past  history  of  the  party,  to  re- 
joice as  we  may  because  of  the  good  it  has  done,  to  correct 
its  errors,  if  errors  there  be,  to  discover,  if  possible,  the 
wants  of  the  present,  and  with  patriotic  firmness  provide  for 
the  future.  Gentlemen,  our  past  history  is  the  Union  pre- 
served, slavery  abolished,  and  its  former  victims  equally 
and  honorably  by  our  sides  in  this  convention ;  the  public 
faith  maintained,  unbounded  credit  at  home  and  abroad;  a 
currency  convertible  into  coin,  and  the  pulses  of  industry 
throbbing  with  renewed  health  and  vigor  in  every  section 
of  a  prosperous  and  peaceful  country.  These  are  the  fruits 
of  triumphs  over  adverse  policies  gained  in  the  military  and 


REPUBLICAN  NOMINATIONS.  89 

civil  conflicts  of  the  last  twenty-four  years.  Out  of  these 
conflicts  has  come  a  race  of  heroes  and  statesmen  challeng- 
ing confidence  ajid  love  at  home  and  respect  and  admiration 
abroad. 

"And  when  we  now  come  to  select  a  standard-bearer 
for  the  approaching  contest,  our  embarrassment  is  not  in  the 
want  but  in  the  multiplicity  of  presidential  material.  New 
York  has  her  true  and  tried  statesman  [applause],  upon 
whose  administration  the  fierce  and  even  unfriendly  light 
of  public  scrutiny  has  been  turned,  and  the  universal  ver- 
dict is:  "Well  done,  thou  good  and  faithful  servant." 
[Cheers.]  Vermont  has  her  great  statesman,  whose  mind 
is  as  clear  as  the  crystal  springs  of  his  native  State,  and 
whose  virtue  is  as  firm  as  its  granite  hills.  [Applause.] 
Ohio  can  come  with  a  name  whose  history  is  but  the  his- 
tory of  the  Republican  party.  [Applause.]  Illinois  can 
come  with  a  man  who  never  failed  in  the  discharge  of  pub- 
lic duty  [cheers],  whether  in  counsel-chamber  or  upon  fields 
of  battle.  [Cheers.]  Maine  has  her  favorite,  whose  splen- 
did abilities  and  personal  qualities  have  endeared  him  to  the 
hearts  of  his  friends,  and  the  brilliancy  of  whose  genius 
challenges  the  admiration  of  mankind.  [Cheers  and  waving 
of  handkerchiefs  for  several  minutes.]  Connecticut  and  In- 
diana also  come  with  names  scarcely  less  illustrious  than  any 
of  these.  [Applause.]  And  now,  gentlemen,  in  conclusion, 
if  because  of  personal  disagreements  amongst  us,  or  the 
emergencies  of  the  occasion,  another  name  is  sought,  there 
yet  remains  that  grand  old  hero  of  Kenesaw  Mountain  and 
Atlanta.  [Applause.]  When  patriotism  calls,  he  can  not, 
if  he  would,  be  silent;  but  grasping  that  banner,  to  him  so 


90  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

dear,  which  he  has  already  borne  in  triumph  upon  many  a 
bloody  field,  he  would  march  to  a  civic  victory  no  less  re- 
nowned than  those  of  war. 

"  Gentlemen,  I  thank  you  for  this  distinguished  mark  of 
your  confidence,  and  will  discharge  the  duties  imposed  at 
least  with  impartiality."  [Applause.] 

In  the  course  of  the  proceedings  the  following  pream- 
ble and  resolution  were  introduced  by  Mr.  Johnston,  a  dele- 
gate from  California : 

"  In  behalf  of  those  who  represent  the  great  and  fundamental 
industry  of  our  country,  we  demand  that  agriculture  shall  have  a 
special  representative  in  the  President's  cabinet ;  therefore,  be  it 

"  Resolved,  That  the  commissioner  of  agriculture  be  made  £ 
cabinet  officer." 

THE  CHAIRMAN. — The  resolution  will  go  to  the  Committee 
on  Resolutions,  of  course. 

The  convention  adjourned  at  an  early  hour,  but  the 
larger  portion  of  the  delegates  and  spectators  remained  to 
listen  to  stirring  and  patriotic  speeches  from  Governor 
Oglesby,  of  Illinois,  and  Congressman  Horr,  of  Michigan. 


R  EP  UBL1CAN  NOMINA  TIONS.  9 1 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  REPUBLICAN  NOMINATIONS. 

"  Men  are  never  so  likely  to  settle  a  question  rightly  as  when  they 
discuss  it  freely."  MACATJLAY. 

THE  CONVENTION— CONTINUED. 

THERE  was  an  idea  abroad  that  the  nominating  speeches 
would  be  made  at  the  morning  session  of  Thursday, 
June  5th,  and  therefore  every  seat  in  the  vast  hall  was 
filled  at  an  early  hour.  But  the  anticipations  of  the  im- 
mense assemblage  were  disappointed.  Routine  proceedings 
were  the  order  of  the  hour,  and  there  was  little  to  interest 
the  ordinary  spectator. 

"The  unanimity  of  the  report  of  the  Committee  on  Cre- 
dentials disappointed  many  who  had  hoped  to  see  a  fight  at 
this  stage  of  the  proceedings.  There  was  a  little  ripple  of 
excitement  and  a  few  not  ear-splitting;  cheers  when  the  report 
announced  that  the  Mahone  delegates  were  to  retain  their 
seats,  and  a  tolerable  welcome  in  the  way  of  cheers  greeted 
the  little  Readjuster  as  he,  with  a  gratified  smile,  walked 
down  the  aisle  to  his  seat.  The  presentation  of  the  report  on 
rules  afforded  an  hour  which  tried  men's  souls.  Innumerable 
amendments  were  offered,  substitutes  were  presented,  the  pre- 
vious question  moved,  no  body  could  hear  anybody  else,  the 
aisles  were  filled  with  moving  people,  and  the  gavel  of  the 
chairman  punctuated  in  rapid  measure  the  confusion,  adding  to 
instead  of  subduing  it.  Finally,  there  came  an  amendment  to 


LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOO  AN. 

the  rules  by  which  it  was  ordered  that  no  person  shall  be 
a  member  of  the  National  Committee  who  is  not  eligible  as 
a  member  of  the  Electoral  College.  This  attracted  some 
little  attention,  for  it  was  explained  by  the  venerable  Sena- 
tor Hoar  that  it  was  meant  to  prevent  Federal  officers  from 
contributing  to  or  soliciting  money  from  other  Federal  offi- 
cers for  party  purposes. 

"The  most  exciting  occurrence  of  the  morning  session 
was  the  presentation  and  discussion  of  the  minority  report 
in  regard  to  the  appointment  of  delegates  to  future  conven- 
tions. It  brought  several  speakers  to  their  feet,  among 
whom  Lynch,  the  colored  delegate  from  Mississippi,  and 
Judge  W.  0.  Bradley,  of  Kentucky,  carried  off  the  honors. 
The  latter  is  a  very  large  but  not  a  badly  proportioned  man, 
with  a  good  face,  and  fairly  good  oratorical  ability.  He  de- 
nounced the  report  as  an  injury  and  an  insult  to  the  South. 
He  was  vehement  in  his  utterances,  and  by  the  very  inten- 
sity of  his  action  succeeded  in  inspiring  a  large  sympathy, 
which  was  manifested  in  much  applause  during  his  speech 
and  a  hearty  round  at  its  conclusion.  Lynch  was  called  for 
by  the  crowd,  although  there  were  a  dozen  other  men  on 
their  feet  trying  to  get  the  eye  of  the  chairman.  He  deliv- 
ered one  the  best  speeches  of  the  session.  It  was  brief,  but 
immensely  forcible  both  in  the  character  of  its  arguments 
and  the  intensity  and  earnestness  with  which  it  was  deliv- 
ered. He  was  long  and  freely  applauded.  Mr.  West,  the 
blind  delegate  from  Ohio,  gained  the  floor  for  a  few  minutes, 
during  which  he  spoke  against  the  report  in  a  manner  so 
impassioned  that  at  times  he  was  almost  incoherent. 

"The  withdrawal  of  the  obnoxious  minority  report  was 


REP  UBLICAN  NOMINA  TIONS.  9 3 

greeted  with  extravagant  delight,  especially  by  the  colored 
delegates,  who  exhausted  all  possible  available  agencies,  such 
as  hats,  hands,  lungs,  newspapers,  and  the  like,  in  order  to 
give  emphasis  to  their  satisfaction. 

Reading  of  the  platform  resolutions  was  listened  to  with 
marked  attention,  and  many  of  the  strong  points  were 
greeted  with  loud  huzzas.  It  is  a  strong  and  well  consid- 
ered declaration  of  views  and  its  unanimous  adoption  was 
effected  in  that  matter-of-course  style  which  proved  every 
delegate  fully  informed  in  all  the  details  of  Republican  doc- 
trine. The  business  of  this  day's  session  was  dispatched  in 
a  prompt,  orderly  way,  and  although  there  was  a  good  deal 
of  it,  the  morning  session  was  concluded  at  2  P.  M.  Be- 
sides the  report  of  the  Committee  on  Resolutions,  the  Com- 
mittees on  Credentials,  Rules  and  Order  of  Business,  all 
made  elaborate  reports,  and  there  was  extended  diftussion 
of  a  resolution  introduced  by  Mr.  Grow,  of  Pennsylvania, 
to  change  the  basis  of  district  representation  in  national 
conventions. 

The  adjournment  from  2  o'clock/1  till  7,  evening,  was  a 
surprise  to  the  crowd,  but  not  to  a  large  number  of  dele- 
gates. It  was  announced  that  the  nominating  speeches 
would  be  made  at  night,  and  then  it  became  generally  un- 
derstood that  the  adjournment  had  been  brought  about  by 
influences  more  friendly  to  the  candidacy  of  others  than  to 
that  of  Mr.  Blaine.  It  was  thought  Jbest  to  have  the 
speeches  so  late  that  no  ballotings  could  be  had  thereafter 
until  the  delegates  had  slept  upon  their  impressions,  and  this 
plan  was  thought  to  favor  any  aspirant  rather  than  the  man 
of  Maine. 


94  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  .LOGAN. 

How  ridiculous  this  pretense  appeared  to  those  who 
were  giving  it  attention  outside  the  convention,  and  who 
knew  that  the  moral  pressure  concentrated  in  the  hopes 
and  prayers  of  four  million  Republican  voters  would  pre- 
vent the  nomination  of  any  but  Elaine.  Nominating- 
speeches  do  not  make  votes  in  conventions  composed  of 
alert  and  intelligent  delegates,  such  as  were  here  assembled. 
If  they  did,  Judge  Foraker's  effort  would  have  greatly  in- 
creased the  strength  of  Senator  Sherman,  for  it  was  the 
most  eloquent  and  finished  speech  of  the  occasion.  All  the 
speeches  were  good;  but  among  those  specially  compli- 
mented were,  West's,  Foraker's,  and  Long's,  made  respect- 
ively for  Elaine,  Sherman,  and  Edmunds. 

The  evening  session  was  the  brilliant  culmination  of  the 
Convention.  At  7  o'clock  the  exposition  building  groaned 
with  people ;  every  foot  of  room  was  filled,  and  thirty  min- 
utes later  the  doors  were  closed.  None  of  the  aisles  were 
permitted  to  be  occupied,  but  up  in  the  galleries  every  pil- 
lar was  encircled  by  a  score  or  more  men. 

The  band  played  "The  Stars  and  Stripes."  All  the 
house  looked  anxious  and  ready  to  have  the  work  begin. 
The  delegates  were  nearly  all  seated,  but  there  was  no  ap- 
parent restlessness  on  their  part,  and  the  curious  faces  seen 
in  their  ranks  defied  analysis. 

The  chairman  was  nursing  a  cold,  and  ate  first  a  licorice 
drop  and  then  a  troche,  and,  after  a  draught  of  water  to 
wash  them  down,  tried  chewing  at  the  end  of  a  piece  of 
oolt's-foot.  Back  of  him  sat  Senator  Lapham,  his  white 
hair,  round,  rosy  face,  and  smiling  countenance  making  him 
the  object  of  universal  attention. 


REP  UBLICAN  NOMINA  TIONS.  95 

Mr.  Roosevelt,  of  New  York,  stood  out  in  the  front 
aisle  with  his  arm  round  some  Ohio  delegate's  neck.  He 
listened  attentively,  pulled  his  mustache  vigorously,  and 
looked  out  of  the  corner  of  his  eye-glasses  at  the  ladies  in 
the  east  box. 

Mr.  McPherson,  for  many  years  clerk  of  the  House,  did 
the  coaching  for  the  chairman,  and  had  a  hard  time  to  ex- 
change pleasantries  with  ever  body  who  passed  him. 

The  first  speaker,  Augustus  Brandegee,  of  Connecticut, 
mounted  the  stage  and  took  position  at  the  left  of  the  chair- 
man. He  looked  like  a  little  iron  war-horse,  with  his  small, 
narrow  frame  well  covered  with  a  net-work  of  muscles,  and 
iron-gray  chin  beard  and  mustache,  and  a  pair  of  steel-gray 
eyes  that  fairly  flashed  with  fire  and  animation.  He  pounded 
his  little,  fat  hands  on  the  table,  and  filled  the  great  hall 
with  his  eloquence,  which,  however,  was  far  in  excess  of 
his  voice.  Water  was  served,  but  in  less  than  five  minutes 
he  was  as  hoarse  as  the  chairman  at  his  side.  And  when 
the  yells  of  the  crowd  outside  were  heard  he  was  as  red  as 
the  badge  on  his  bosom,  and  the  perspiration  rolled  down  his 
face  in  little  streams. 

When  Maine  was  called,  it  was  like  springing  a  mine. 
Up  to  their  feet  sprang  five  thousand  men  and  woman  with 
the  cry  of  "  Elaine."  The  storm  of  cheers  raged  until  it 
seemed  that  human  nature  must  give  out.  Brazen  music 
tried  to  drown  the  noise,  but  the  thousands  of  tongues 
refused  to  be  overcome.  A  white  plume  perched  on  top  of 
a  pyramid  of  flowers  was  held  aloft  on  the  stage.  It  was 
saluted  as  the  insignia  of  the  great  commoner.  Flags  were 
torn  from  their  decorations,  and  were  dipped  from  the  galleries. 


96  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN.  . 

Delegates  whirled  around  their  hankerchiefs,  and  even  opened 
umbrellas,  and  danced  them  up  and  down.  The  chair  could 
not,  with  his  gavel,  bring  about  order.  But  at  last  human 
nature  did.  Judge  West  made  the  nominating  speech. 
Some  passages  were  magnificent  in  their  eloquence. 

When  he  mentioned  the  name  of  Hon.  James  G. 
Elaine,  the  convention  rose  en  masse,  and  such  rounds 
and  storms  of  enthusiasm  were  not  heard  in  the  city  since 
the  nomination  of  James  A.  Garfield.  Men  got  up,  took  off 
their  coats,  and  pulled  down  the  flags  and  banners  that 
draped  the  gallery  rails.  These  stars  and  stripes  were  given 
to  the  ladies,  who  waved  them  as  long  as  their  strength 
lasted.  Umbrellas  were  raised,  whistles  and  shouts  rent  the 
building  and  reached  the  throng  out  on  the  street. 

The  great  staff  of  patrolmen  and  police  were  set  aside, 
and  thousands  of  men  and  boys  scaled  the  balconies,  and 
not  only  filled  every  window,  but  opened  those  that  were 
closed,  and  lent  their  fresh  lungs  to  the  tired  throats  in  the 
house. 

The  ladies  at  this  moment  sent  greetings  to  the  "  Plumed 
Knight,  the  champion  of  the  land  that  above  all  lands  cham- 
pions and  respects  the  cause  of  women."  The  tribute  con- 
sisted of  a  helmet  made  of  pink  and  white  roses,  over  which 
waved  a  plume  of  white  yak  hair.  Bands  of  red,  white,  and 
blue  satin  strings  finished  the  typical  design.  This  was 
seized  and  hoisted  on  the  apex  of  one  of  the  American  flags 
in  sight  of  the  yelling  crowd.  The  sight  of  it  renewed  the 
people  to  louder  and  longer  plaudits,  and  it  was  more  than 
half  an  hour  before  the  sightless  orator  could  finish  his 
remarks. 


REP  UBLICAN  NOMINA  TIONS.  9  7 

Again  was  the  vast  building  filled  with  wild  huzzahs 
when  the  orator  repeated  the  name  of  Elaine,  and  the  throng 
took  them  up  outside.  Could  the  popular  preference  be  mis- 
taken? men  asked.  Grow,  for  Pennsylvania,  and  Platt,  for 
New  York,  seconded  the  nomination.  So  did  Colonel  Goodloe, 
for  Kentucky,  in  passionate  and  brilliant  eulogy.  Arthur  re- 
ceived a  rival  demonstration  when  New  York  was  called.  It 
was  grand.  But  in  after  mention  of  the  President  it  was 
evident  that  the  popular  heart  was  not  touched.  Townsend, 
of  Troy,  made  a  bad  mess  of  the  nominating  speech.  An 
attack  was  made  on  Conkling  that  was  in  exceeding  bad 
taste,  and  was  deservedly  hissed. 

In  nominating  Sherman,  Judge  Foraker  received  quite  an 
ovation.  He  was  listened  to  with  great  attention.  Nobody 
who  heard  Foraker  could  doubt  his  loyalty  to  John  Sherman. 
It  was  peculiar  that  while  the  Sherman  part  of  the  Ohio 
delegation  refused  to  participate  in  the  Elaine  demonstration, 
the  entire  delegation  joined  in  the  applause  fov  Sherman. 
Foraker  spoke  of  Arthur.  There  were  a  few  cheers.  Then 
he  expressed  his  admiration  for  that  brilliant  chieftain  of 
Maine.  The  Elaine  fever  broke  out  again.  Foraker  gave 
Elaine,  merely  by  an  incidental  reference,  the  biggest  boom 
he  had  had  yet.  The  galleries  got  uncontrollable.  The  white 
plume  was  seized  and  put  on  top  of  a  starry  flag,  and  amid 
the  wildest  imaginable  scenes  it  was  carried  around  the 
center  aisle.  Foraker  conducted  himself  amazingly  under 
the  ordeal.  He  made  a  good  point  when  quiet  again  reigned 
over  the  convention,  by  reminding  his  hearers  that  they 
should  not  shout  until  they  had  got  out  of  the  woods.  The 
happy  turn  was  greeted  with  applause  and  cheers. 

7 


98  LIFE  AND  SER  VICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

Judge  Holt,  of  Kentucky,  seconded  the  nomination  of 
Sherman  in  a  good,  practical,  well-put  speech. 

Governor  Long's  effort  in  behalf  of  Edmunds  was  forcible, 
clear-cut,  logical,  and  earnest.  Like  Foraker's,  it  was  an  ap- 
peal to  sober  judgment.  In  beauty  of  imagery,  Governor 
Long's  speech  was  a  masterpiece  of  oratory. 

George  Wm.  Curtis  seconded  the  nomination  of  Edmunds. 
His  rich  voice,  schokrly  enunciation,  and  purity  of  style 
attracted  the  deep  attention  of  his  hearers. 

It  should  have  been  mentioned  in  due  order,  that  when 
Illinois  was  called,  Governor  Cullom  presented  the  name  of 
General  John  A.  Logan,  in  an  eloquent  and  well  considered 
address,  which  was  received  with  enthusiastic  plaudits.* 

At  the  close  of  Mr.  Curtis's  second  of  the  nomination 
of  Edmunds,  half  an  hour  after  midnight,  the  nominating 
speeches  were  concluded.  Then  there  was  considerable 
skirmishing  to  reach  a  ballot,  and  no  little  managing  by  those 
opposed  to  a  ballot  at  this  juncture  to  secure  an  adjourn- 
ment. Finally,  an  adjournment  was  decided  upon,  till  Fri- 
day morning,  June  6th. 


*  This  speech,  and  several  others  which  are  thought  to  be  important  to  the 
completeness  and  interest  of  this  volume,  are  reproduced  in  some  of  the  later 
pages. 


REP  UBLICAN  NOMINA TIONS.  99 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  REPUBLICAN  NOMINATIONS. 
"WHEN  GREEKS  JOIN'D  GREEKS,  THEN  WAS  THE  TUG  OF  WAB." 

' '  The  streets  adorn'd,  the  doors  with  statues  graced, 
Vast  thronging  crowds  retard  the  great  procession, 
Whose  loud  repeated  shouts  divide  the  air. 
With  garlands  crown'd,  the  Virgins  strew  the  ways, 
And  in  glad  hymns  repeat  his  glorious  name."        HIGGON. 

THE  CONVENTION— CONTINUED. 

TTPON  the  fourth  and  last  day  of  its  session,  the  Eighth 
\J  National  Republican  Convention  was  called  to  order  at 
11.20  A.  M.,  by  Chairman  Henderson.  The  session  was 
opened  with  an  invocation  by  Rev.  Dr.  Scudder,  of  Chicago. 
After  the  effusions  of  eloquence  last  night  in  presenting 
the  names  of  candidates,  the  workers  arose  this  morning  for 
renewed  efforts  on  the  home  stretch.  One  of  the  things 
sought  by  Senators  Miller  and  Chaffee,  Congressman  Elkins 
and  other  Elaine  managers,  was  to  hold  their  vote  for  a  con- 
tinued struggle  of  a  hundred  ballots,  if  need  be.  They  said 
they  would  be  more  steadfast  than  the  "Old  Guard,"  if 
necessary.  In  this  they  scored  their  success.  No  dilatory 
motions  for  recess  or  anything  else  could  break  their  march 
or  in  any  manner  demoralize  them.  They  felt  their  strength, 
and  in  the  hotel  lobbies  this  morning,  while  their  followers 


100  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  BLAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

were  still  noisy,  the  managers  were  confident  and  cool. 
They  said  they  were  simply  working  to  prevent  the  will  of 
the  people  from  being  defeated ;  that  the  boom  for  Elaine 
needed  no  motive  power,  but  that  they  had  only  to  look  out 
for  breakers  and  trickery. 

The  attention  of  the  morning  session  was  given  to  the 
ballot  for  the  nomination  of  a  Presidential  candidate.  Hav- 
ing given  the  details  of  the  ballots  in  a  previous  chapter, 
only  the  aggregates  are  here  presented: 

FIRST  BALLOT — OFFICIAL  FOOTINGS. — Elaine  334 i,  Arthur 
278,  Edmunds  93,  Logan  63*,  John  Sherman  30,  Hawley  13, 
Lincoln  4,  General  Sherman  2. 

SECOND  BALLOT. — The  result  of  the  second  ballot  was  an- 
nounced at  1.20,  and  the  increase  of  Elaine's  vote  was  the 
cause  of  an  exuberant  demonstration  on  the  part  of  the 
audience. 

Official  footings  of  the  second  ballot :  Whole  number  of 
delegates,  820;  whole  number  of  votes  cast,  818;  necessary 
to  a  choice,  411.  Elaine  received  349,  Arthur  277,  Edmunds 
85,  Logan  61,  John  Sherman  28,  Hawley  13,  Lincoln  4,  Gen- 
eral Sherman  2. 

THIRD  BALLOT. — The  result  of  the  third  ballot  was  an- 
nounced at  2 .10. 

The  official  footings  were :  Whole  number  of  votes  cast, 
819.  Elaine  received  375,  Arthur  274,  Edmunds  69,  Logan 
53,  John  Sherman  25,  Hawley  13,  General  Sherman  2, 
Lincoln  8. 

The  gains  made  in  the  Elaine  vote,  and  the  understand- 
ing that  the  Logan  vote  would  probably  be  transferred  to 
Elaine,  produced  another  storm  of  cheering  and  wild  enthusi- 


REP  UBLICAN  NOMINA  TIONS.  101 

asm  for  Blaine.  Bingham  of  Pennsylvania,  William  W.  Phelps 
of  New  Jersey,  and  one  or  two  colored  delegates  endeavored 
to  get  a  hearing,,  and  vociferated  and  gesticulated  without 
succeeding  in  being  heard,  their  voices  being  drowned  in 
tumultuous  yells,  cheers,  and  demands  for  a  call  of  the  roll. 
Not  deterred  by  their  failure,  Roosevelt  of  New  York,  car- 
ried away  by  the  excitement,  got  up  on  his  seat,  waving  his 
arms,  and  appeared  as  if  he  was  saying  something,  but  not  a 
word  was  heard  from  him. 

Finally,  at  2  .30,  the  taking  of  the  fourth  ballot  was  be- 
gun. Before  the  vote  of  Alabama  was  given,  there  was 
another  uproar,  in  which  Butcher,  Roosevelt,  and  other  New 
York  delegates  took  prominent  parts.  It  arose  upon  the 
technical  point  that  a  motion  to  take  a  recess  had  been  made, 
and  had  been  decided  by  the  Chair  in  the  negative,  although 
calls  had  been  made  for  a  vote  by  States.  At  last  a  Blaine 
delegate  appealed  to  his  friends  to  have  the  vote  on  the 
recess  taken  by  States,  and  at  2 .30  the  vote  by  States 
began. 

The  result  of  the  vote  on  the  motion  for  a  recess  was, 
yeas  364,  nays  450.  The  announcement  was  hailed  with 
vociferous  applause,  as  a  Blaine  triumph.  It  was  a  long 
time  before  order  was  restored  sufficiently  to  have  business 
proceeded  with.  Judge  Foraker,  of  Ohio,  proposed  to 
nominate  Blaine  by  acclamation,  but  Mr.  Burrows,  of  Michi- 
gan, insisted  that  the  taking  of  the  ballot  should  go  on.  It 
was  evident  that  the  crisis  was  at  hand,  and  that  nothing 
could  stay  the  coming  deluge. 

FOURTH  BALLOT. — Finally,  at  3 .15,  the  convention  pro- 
ceeded to  the  fourth  ballot.  The  changes  from  the  third 


102  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOG  AN. 

ballot  were  as  follows :  Alabama,  Blaine  gains  6,  Arthur 
loses  5,  Logan  loses  1 ;  Arkansas,  no  change ;  California,  no 
change  ;  Colorada,  no  change  ;  Connecticut,  no  change ;  Dele- 
ware,  no  change;  Florida  (vote  being  polled),  Blaine  gains 
2,  Arthur  loses  2 ;  Georgia,  no  change.  Illinois  being  called, 
Senator  Cullom  rose  and  said  he  wished  to  read  a  dispatch 
which  he  had  just  received  from  General  Logan.  Objections 
were  promptly  made  and  sustained.  [The  dispatch  received 
by  Senator  Cullom  read  as  follows : 

"WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  June  6th. 
"  To  S.  M.  CULLOM,  Illinois  Delegation : 

"  The  Republicans  of  the  States  that  must  be  relied  on  to  elect 
the  President,  having  so  strongly  shown  a  preference  for  Mr.  Blaine, 
I  deem  it  my  duty  not  to  stand  in  the  way  of  the  people's  choice, 
and  I  recommend  my  friends  to  assist  in  his  nomination. 

"JOHN   A.  LOGAN."] 

Mr.  Cullom  then  withdrew  the  name  of  General  Logan,  and 
cast  34  votes  of  Illinois  for  Blaine.  The  change  in  Illinois 
from  Logan  to  Blaine  made  Elaine's  vote  414.  Mr.  Cullom 
completed  his  report,  giving  Blaine  34,  Logan  7,  and  Ar- 
thur 3,  a  gain  to  Blaine  of  31,  a  gain  to  Arthur  of  2 
and  a  loss  to  Logan  of  33.  Indiana  cast  30  votes  solid  for 
Blaine,  a  gain  to  Blaine  of  12  and  a  loss  to  Arthur  of  10, 
and  to  Logan  of  2.  Iowa,  Blaine  loses  2, x  Arthur  gains  2. 
Louisiana,  Blaine  gains  5;  Maine,  no  change;  Maryland, 
Blaine  gains  3 ;  Kansas,  Blaine  gains  3  ;  Kentucky,  Blaine 
gains  3  ;  Massachusetts,  vote  polled  ;  Michigan,  Blaine  gains 
8 ;  Minnesota,  Blaine  gains  2 ;  Mississippi,  Blaine  gains  1 ; 
Missouri,  Blaine  gains  22 ;  New  Hampshire,  Blaine  gains  3 ; 
New  Jersey,  Blaine  gains  6.  [A  dispatch  was  received 


REP  UBLICAN  NOMINA  TIONS.  103 

from  President  Arthur  by  Mr.  Curtis,  of  the  Inter-Ocean, 
saying  :  "  If  Blaine  is  nominated  on  this  ballot  have  Dutcher 
ask  to  make  the  nomination  unanimous,  and  thank  my 
friends  for  me."]  New  York  (vote  polled),  no  change; 
North  Carolina,  Blaine  gains  5;  Ohio,  the  whole  vote 
was  cast  for  Blaine,  a  gain  of  21 ;  Oregon,  no  change ; 
Pennsylvania  gave  Blaine  51  votes,  a  gain  of  1 ;  Rhode 
Island,  Blaine  gains  7 — (the  Illinois  delegation  has  tele- 
graphed to  Logan  asking  whether  he  will  accept  the  nomi- 
nation for  the  Vice-presidency,  and  is  waiting  for  an  an- 
swer) ;  South  Carolina,  no  change ;  Tennessee,  Blaine  gains 
4 ;  Texas,  Blaine  gains  1 ;  Vermont,  no  change ;  Virginia, 
no  change ;  West  Virginia,  no  change ;  Wisconsin  cast  her 
22  votes  for  Blaine,  a  gain  of  11 ;  Idaho,  Blaine  gains  1; 
Montana,  Blaine  gains  1 ;  New  Mexico,  no  change ;  Utah, 
Blaine  gains  2 ;  Washington,  no  change ;  Wyoming,  Blaine 
gains  2. 

The  result  was  announced  at  4.40.  Instantly,  and  even 
before  the  last  figures  were  pronounced  by  Mr.  McPherson, 
the  vast  audience  arose  and  broke  out  into  another  mad  dem- 
onstration of  enthusiasm.  Cheers  resounded,  the  band 
struck  up  an  inspiring  air,  hats,  handkerchiefs,  and  national 
flags  were  waved.  A  large  square  banner  from  Kansas  was 
carried  through  the  hall,  promising  a  large  majority  in  that 
State  for  Blaine,  and  with  its  two  uprights  capped  with  new 
brooms.  A  stuffed  eagle  from  Colorado  was  also  carried 
around  in  the  procession.  The  roar  of  artillery  outside  was 
heard,  booming  with  the  louder  roar  of  voices  inside,  and 
amid  great  enthusiasm  the  nomination  was  made  unanimous; 
suggested  by  telegraphic  request  from  President  Arthur. 


104  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  BLAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

THE  CHAIRMAN,  after  a  comparative  lull  in  the  tumult — 
James  G.  Elaine,  of  Maine,  having  received  the  votes  of  a 
majority  of  all  the  delegates  elected  to  this  convention, 
the  question  now  before  the  convention  is,  shall  the  nomi- 
nation of  Mr.  Elaine  be  made  unanimous  ?  [Applause.] 
On  this  motion  the  Chair  recognizes  Mr.  Buiieigh,  of 
New  York. 

MR.  BURLEIGH,  of  New  York — Mr.  President  and  brother 
Republicans,  in  behalf  of  the  President  of  the  United  States, 
and  at  his  request,  I  move  to  make  the  nomination  of  James 
G.  Elaine,  of  Maine,  unanimous,  and  I  promise  for  the 
friends  of  President  Arthur,  who  are  always  loyal  at  the 
polls,  and  for  Old  Northern  New  York,  twenty  thousand 
Republican  majority  in  the  north ;  and  I  promise  you  all  that 
we  will  do  all  we  can  for  the  ticket  and  the  nominee,  and 
we  will  show  you  in  November  next  that  New  York  is  a 
Republican  State.  [Cheers.]  It  elected  James  A.  Garfield, 
and  it  will  elect  James  G.  Elaine,  of  Maine.  [Applause.] 

SENATOR  SABIN,  of  Minnesota — Mr.  Chairman,  four  years 
ago  in  this  very  hall,  and  as  a  delegate  to  the  National  Re- 
publican Convention,  I  was  opposed  to  Chester  A.  Arthur 
and  to  the  elements  with  which  he  then  associated.  Since 
then  he  has  been  called,  under  the  most  trying  circumstances, 
to  fill  the  first  place  in  the  gift  of  the  people  of  this  country. 
So  well,  so  nobly  has  he  filled  that  trust ;  so  happily  has  he 
disappointed  not  only  those  of  his  opponents,  but  his 
friends ;  so  fully  has  he  filled  the  position  of  the  gentleman 
that  he  is — of  a  scholar,  and  of  a  gentleman  possessed  of 
that  great,  good  common  sense  which  has  made  his  admin- 
istration a  great  and  pronounced  success — that  he  has  grown 


REP UBLICAN  NOMJNA  TIONS.  105 

upon  me,  until  to-day  I  honor  and  revere  Chester  A.  Arthur. 
As  a  friend  of  his,  I  no  less  honor  and  revere  that  prince  of 
gentlemen,  that-  scholar,  that  gifted  statesman,  James  G. 
Elaine,  and  it  affords  me  the  greatest  pleasure  to  second  the 
motion  to  make  his  nomination  unanimous,  with  the  predic- 
tion that  his  name  before  this  country  in  November  will  pro- 
duce that  same  spontaneous  enthusiasm  which  will  make  him 
President  of  the  United  States  the  fourth  of  March  next. 

SENATOR  PLUMB,  of  Kansas — Mr.  Chairman,  this  conven- 
tion has  discharged  one  of  its  most  important  trusts,  and  is 
now,  notwithstanding  the  length  of  time  it  has  been  in  ses- 
sion and  the  exciting  scenes  through  which  it  has  passed, 
in  thorough  good  humor,  and  I  believe  ready  to  go  on  and 
conclude  the  business  which  brought  us  here.  [Cries  of 
"  No  !"  "  No  !"]  Mr.  President,  before  proceeding  to  this, 
I  desire  also,  in  connection  with  the  senator  from  Minnesota, 
and  responding  to  the  sentiment  which  pervades  this  entire 
convention,  to  second  the  motion  that  this  nomination  be 
made  unanimous,  and  I  hope  there  will  not  be  a  dissenting 
voice  in  all  this  vast  assemblage.  [Applause.] 

THE  SECRETARY — I  have  been  requested  to  read  to  the 
convention  the  following  telegraphic  dispatch  : 

The  President  has  sent  the  following  dispatch  to  Mr.  Blaine : 
"  The  Hon.  James  G.  Blaine,  Augusta,  Maine. — As  the  candi- 
date of  the  Republican  party,  you  will  have  my  earnest  and  cordial 
support.  CHESTER  A.  ARTHUR." 

The  announcement  was  received  with  applause. 
THE  CHAIRMAN — The  motion  is,  Shall  the  nomination  of 
Mr.  Blaine  be  made  unanimous  ? 

The  motion  was  carried  amidst  much  cheering. 


106  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

During  the  final  ballot  it  was  with  the  utmost  difficulty 
that  the  excitement  could  be  repressed  until  the  roll  was 
complete  and  the  official  result  was  announced,  which  was 
done  by  Secretary  McPherson.  The  latter,  in  announcing 
the  vote,  began  with  the  lowest,  leaving  Elaine  to  the  last. 
When  the  latter's  name  was  reached  McPherson  got  no 
further  than  "  Elaine,  five  hundred,"  when  the  storm  of  ap- 
plause burst,  and  the  additional  votes  above  the  five  hun- 
dred were  unheard.  Then  ensued  a  scene  which  beggars 
description.  For  fully  fifteen  minutes  the  vast  crowd  was 
on  its  feet,  and  the  roar  of  cheers  and  yells  was  continuous. 
Men  paraded  the  aisles  with  banners  of  strange  device. 
From  outside  the  building,  where  vast  crowds  were  in  wait- 
ing, came  the  echoing  cheers  and  the  booming  of  cannon. 
It  was  a  magnificent  demonstration  of  satisfaction  at  a  result 
which  is  as  clearly  the  people's  choice  as  any  that  was  ever 
made  by  a  political  party.  On  the  motion  to  make  the  nom- 
ination unanimous  there  was  not  a  dissenting  vote  or  voice 
in  all  the  immense  throng. 

George  William  Curtis  was  loudly  called  for  after  the 
nomination  was  made,  but  he  refused  to  respond.  The  del- 
egates from  the  Pacific  States  could  find  no  bounds  to  their 
joy.  Before  the  recess  was  taken,  the  cannon  began  boom- 
ing all  along  the  lake  shore ;  the  printing  presses  were  rat- 
tling off  pictures  of  the  great  leader,  and  the  city  that  has 
its  exchanges  rattling  away  all  the  time  with  as  much  noise 
as  a  National  Convention,  was  soon  alive  with  the  "Hurrah 
for  Elaine." 

At  the  evening  session,  the  roll  of  States  was  called  for 
the  nomination  of  candidates  for  Vice-president. 


REPUBLICAN  NOMINATIONS.  107 

When  Illinois  was  called,  Senator  Plumb,  of  Kansas, 
came  forward,  and  spoke  as  follows : 

"Mr.  Chairman,  and  gentlemen  of  the  Convention:  This 
convention  has  already  discharged  two  of  the  most  serious 
obligations  which  rested  upon  it — the  adoption  of  a  platform 
and  the  nomination  of  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency.  [Ap- 
plause.] The  platform  is  one  upon  which  all  good  Repub- 
licans and  all  good  citizens  can  unite,  and  of  which  they  can 
well  feel  proud.  The  candidate  for  the  presidency  needs  no 
eulogium  from  me,  and  I  can  also  say  for  him  that  he  can 
meet  any  man  in  the  Democratic  party,  whether  that  man  be 
dead  or  alive.  [Applause.]  Upon  that  statement  it  might 
seem  a  matter  of  comparative  indifference  as  to  who  should 
fill  the  second  place ;  but,  Mr.  President  and  •  gentlemen, 
there  is  such  a  thing  as  proportion.  Having  nominated  a 
statesman  of  approved  reputation,  a  man  of  whom  we  are  all 
proud,  we  owe  it  to  the  party  to  nominate  the  best  and 
most  available  man  we  have  for  the  second  place.  [Ap- 
plause.] 

"Mr.  President,  this  is  the  first  time  in  the  history  of 
the  Republican  party  since  the  war  when  the  man  who  is 
to  fill  the  first  place  is  not  a  soldier.  There  are  a  million  men 
yet  living  who  served  their  country  in  the  late  war.  And 
now,  Mr.  President,  twenty  years  after  the  lapse  of  that 
war  they  are  bound  together  by  ties  as  strong  as  they  ever 
were  while  serving  under  arms,  and  the  great  brotherhood 
of  the  soldiery  of  the  United  States  is  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant factors  in  the  social  and  political  life  of  the  Ameri- 
can Republic.  [Applause.]  It  is  due,  not  as  a  matter  of 
availability,  but  as  a  matter  of  just  recognition  to  that  great 


108  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

body  of  soldiery  who  made  the  Republican  party  possible, 
that  a  fit  representative  of  theirs  should  have  the  second 
place  upon  the  team — a  man  who,  wise  within  himself,  has 
not  only  the  qualities  of  a  soldier,  but  also  the  qualities  of 
a  statesman — because  the  American  people  are  becoming 
now  considerate  of  the  second  place  upon  the  National 
ticket,  and  it  is  a  matter  of  grave  concern  that  the  man  to 
be  chosen  shall  be  fit  to  step  into  the  shoes  of  the  man  in 
the  first  place.  [Applause.] 

"  Mr.  President,  as  I  said,  if  it  were  only  a  question  of 
electing  a  ticket,  we  might  nominate  any  body.  But  it  is 
more  than  that.  It  is  not  only  a  question  of  carrying  and 
electing  a  President  and  a  Vice-president,  but  it  is  a  ques- 
tion of  the  election  of  a  majority  of  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives in  Congress.  It  is  a  question  of  rehabilitating 
States  where  Legislatures  have  been  lost,  and,  consequently, 
representatives  in  the  Senate  have  been  equally  lost.  You 
want  especially  to  strengthen  this  ticket,  if  so  it  may  be,  by 
adding  to  it  a  man  who  has  his  representatives  in  all  por- 
tions of  this  broad  land,  in  every  township,  in  every  school 
district,  in  every  representative  district,  and  in  every 
county,  in  order  that  the  ticket  may  be  carried  to  the  far- 
thest confines  of  the  Republic,  and  its  remotest  places,  with 
that  good  will  and  recognition  which  will  make  sure  of  a 
full  vote.  [Applause.] 

"We  have  come  to  that  point  since  the  war  when  the 
kindly  feeling  growing  out  of  association  has  come  to  be  a 
power,  and  out  of  that  kindly  feeling  has  grown  the  organ- 
ization of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  which  has  now 
in  its  communion  more  than  three-fourths  of  the  men  who 


REP  UBLICAN  NOMINA TIONS.  109 

lately  wore  the  blue.  [Loud  applause.]  They  are  Repub- 
licans because  the  Republican  party  is  true  to  them,  to  their 
interests,  and  ta  all  those  things  for  which  they  fought  and 
sacrificed ;  and  it  is  only  just  and  proper  that,  in  making 
tickets  and  in  making  platforms,  we  should  recognize  that 
great  body  of  honorable  and  self-sacrificing  men. 

"  Mr.  Chairman  and  gentlemen,  in  presenting  to  you  a 
candidate,  I  shall  present  one  to  you  who,  I  believe,  fills  all 
the  qualifications  necessary  for  even  the  first  place  upon  this 
ticket;  a  man  whose  military  and  civil  record  will  not  be 
obscured  by  even  so  brilliant  a  one  as  that  of  the  head  of 
the  ticket.  [Loud  applause.]  That  is  the  kind  of  a  man 
we  want — a  man  tried  in  war  and  in  peace,  a  man  who  has 
in  every  capacity  in  which  he  has  been  tried  so  acted  that 
to-day  his  name  and  fame  are  a  part  of  the  proud  heritage 
of  the  American  people.  [Loud  applause.]  By  the  terms 
of  your  resolution  you  have  abridged  that  which  I  would 
say ;  but  it  is  enough  for  me  to  say  that  the  man  whom  I 
present  for  your  consideration,  believing  that  he  will  add 
strength  to  the  ticket,  and  believing  that  he  will  justify  the 
words  I  have  spoken,  is  General  John  A.  Logan,  of  Illinois." 
[Loud  applause.] 

The  applause  at  this  point  was  repeatedly  renewed,  and 
lasted  for  several  minutes. 

The  speaker,  resuming,  said :  "  His  reputation  is  no 
more  the  property  of  Illinois  than  it  is  of  Kansas;  but 
there  are  seventy-five  thousand  ex-soldiers  of  the  late  war 
upon  the  prairies  of  Kansas  who,  with  one  accord,  when 
they  hear  of  the  nomination  of  John  A.  Logan,  will  rise  up 
and  indorse  it  and  ratify  it.  [Loud  applause.]  I  know 


110  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

Illinois  begrudges  him  to  the  country ;  like  Hosea  Bigelow's 
wife,  they  want  him  for  home  consumption.  But,  Mr. 
President,  it  is  a  command  which  we  have  a  right  to  lay 
upon  them,  and  I  know  that  in  Illinois,  with  that  command 
upon  them,  they  will  do  as  General  Logan  would  do  him- 
self. He  obeys  the  duty  and  obligation  of  party,  the  com- 
mand of  the  party  and  the  country ;  and,  in  fact,  he  never 
disobeyed  but  one  order,  and  that  was  when  he  disobeyed 
an  order  not  to  fight  a  battle. 

"  Therefore,  in  behalf  of  the  ex-soldiers  of  the  Union,  in 
behalf  of  the  State  of  Kansas,  by  whom  I  am  commissioned 
for  this  purpose,  and  in  behalf,  generally,  of  the  great  body 
of  the  Republican  party  of  the  Union,  who  admire  and 
esteem  this  man,  I  present  his  name  for  your  consideration, 
and  hope  that  he  may  receive  the  nomination  at  your  hands." 
[Loud  applause  and  shouts.] 

THE  CHAIRMAN. — Judge  Houck,  of  Tennessee. 

JUDGE  HOUCK. — Mr.  Chairman,  gentlemen  of  the  conven- 
tion :  Thus  far,  while  I  have  not  received  my  first  choice, 
this  convention  has  done  well.  [  Cries  of  "  Good !" 
"  Good !"  and  applause.]  Under  the  leadership,  at  the 
head  of  the  ticket,  of  the  Plumed  Knight  of  Maine,  we 
expect  in  November,  all  other  conditions  being  equal,  to 
march  to  glorious  and  final  victory  over  the  Democratic 
party  in  the  United  States.  [Applause.]  Now  that  the 
first  part  of  our  duties  has  been  discharged ;  now  that  we 
have  a  candidate  at  the  head  of  the  ticket  whom  every 
genuine  Republican  in  these  United  States,  whether  for  or 
against  him  in  this  contest,  can  cheerfully  and  heartily  sup- 
port; now  that  we  have  started  thus  well,  let  us  complete 


REP  UBLICAN  NOMINA  TIONS.  Ill 

our  work  by  adding  as  the  candidate  for  Vice-president  of 
the  United  States  one  who,  as  we  all  know,  may  have  to 
enter  the  Executive  Mansion  and  discharge  the  duties  of 
the  first  office  of  the  Nation — I  say,  let  us  now  see  if  we  can 
not  come  to  an  understanding  and  agreement  and  unite  upon 
one  who  will  do  equal  honor  in  that  position  as  the  distin- 
guished leader  who  is  at  the  head  of  our  ticket. 

And  in  looking  over  all  this  country,  looking  through 
the  halls  of  Congress,  going  back  over  the  reminiscences  of 
the  war,  analyzing  the  character  of  men  upon  the  field  or 
in  the  halls  of  legislation,  wherever  he  has  been  called  to 
duty,  John  A.  Logan  has  never  been  found  wanting  [cheers 
and  loud  applause] ;  and  it  has  been  well  said  by  the  gen- 
tleman who  has  preceded  me  that,  having  nominated  a 
civilian  for  the  first  time  since  the  war,  it  is  now  all-impor- 
tant to  give  to  the  soldiers  of  the  country,  who  fought  the 
battles  of  the  Union  to  preserve  it  to  the  people,  a  repre- 
sentative upon  that  ticket.  That  being  so,  in  whom  can  we 
find  all  the  elements  necessary  to  make  up  the  statesman- 
ship which  is  necessary  to  discharge  the  duties  of  this  high 
office,  but  in  General  John  A.  Logan?  I  can  do  it  the  more 
cheerfully — it  is  perfectly  natural  to  me ;  it  becomes  a  part 
of  my  nature  and  goes  into  my  sympathies,  into  the  very 
sympathies  of  my  heart  to  advocate  his  nomination — com- 
ing as  I  do  (perhaps  I  will  give  you  something  that  some 
of  you  never  thought  of),  coming  as  I  do,  as  a  representa- 
tive of  that  part  of  the  country  where  two  Congressional 
Districts,  the  First  and  Second  of  Tennessee,  gave  more 
soldiers  to  fight  under  the  flag  than  any  two  other  Districts 
in  the  United  States  of  America.  [Applause.]  That  being 


112  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

so,  representing  these  elements,  I  know  that  when  the  wires 
shall  have  transmitted  the  news  of  the  nomination  of  John 
A.  Logan  for  the  Vice-presidency  of  the  United  States  to 
the  soldier  boys  of  East  Tennessee,  they  will  rejoice  there, 
as  they  will  rejoice  everywhere  the  news  is  transmitted. 
[Cheers  and  loud  applause.]  It  is  an  inviting  theme,  but  I 
am  admonished  that  under  the  rules  I  should  desist  after  a 
few  more  words. 

Now,  gentlemen,  let  us  join  hands.  The  truth  is,  there 
ought  not  to  be  any  other  nomination.  [Applause  and 
cheers.]  John  A.  Logan  ought  to  be  nominated  by  acclama- 
tion. Our  delegation,  as  you  have  seen,  has  been  somewhat 
divided  on  every  thing  else,  but  when  you  come  to  John  A. 
Logan  we  are  united — twenty-four  strong.  [Great  applause.] 
Mr.  President  and  gentlemen  of  the  convention,  for  the  con- 
siderations which  I  have  mentioned,  I  now  place  John  A. 
Logan's  destinies  in  your  hands,  with  the  full  conviction  that 
when  the  roll  is  called  you  will  make  him  the  candidate  of 
the  party,  and  in  November  victory  will  perch  upon  our 
banners.  [Great  applause.] 

THE  CHAIRMAN — Mr.  Thurston,  of  Nebraska. 

MR.  THURSTON — Mr.  Chairman  and  gentlemen  of  the  con- 
vention :  In  seconding  this  magnificent  nomination  on  behalf 
of  a  great  veteran  constituency  I  have  only  this  to  say,  let 
us  write  upon  the  banner  of  the  Republican  party  for  this 
glorious  campaign  this  invincible  legion — "  Blaine  and 
Logan" — [great  applause] — "Blaine  and  Logan:  Peace 
and  War."  The  great  gratitude  of  the  American  people  will 
crown  these  victors  of  them  both  with  their  grand  and 
glorious  approbation.  [Loud  applause,  and  cries  of  "  Time  !  "] 


REP  UBLICAN  NOMINA  TIONS.  118 

THE  CHAIRMAN — Mr.  Lee,  of  Pennsylvania. 

MR.  LEE — Mr.  Chairman  and  gentlemen  of  the  conven- 
tion :  You  have. inaugurated  here  to-day  a  glorious  victory 
for  November  [applause]  by  nominating  for  President  a  na- 
tive of  Pennsylvania,  but  whose  fame  was  too  great  for  his 
own  State.  It  is  of  the  whole  country.  You  will  complete 
the  work  which  you  have  so  well  begun.  The  people  be- 
lieved, with  a  belief  which  amounted  to  conviction,  that 
you  would  recognize  their  sovereign  will  in  the  nomination 
which  you  would  here  '  make,  and  you  have  not  disap- 
pointed them. 

And  so  with  you,  knights  of  the  great  Commonwealth 
of  Kansas,  in  seconding  the  nomination  of  a  man  for  Vice- 
president  who  was  fit  to  be  President  of  the  United  States, 
I  second,  on  behalf  of  the  great  Middle  States  of  Pennsyl- 
vania and  Ohio,  the  nomination  of  John  A.  Logan. 
[Applause.] 

MR.  HORR,  of  Michigan — Mr.  Chairman — 

Calls  were  made  to  Mr.  Horr  to  take  the  stand,  but  he 
declined,  and  continued  as  follows  : 

"  I  will  be  through  before  I  can  get  to  the  stand.  I 
simply  rise,  Mr.  Chairman,  in  behalf  of  that  large  army  of 
us  men  who  stayed  at  home  during  the  war  [laughter],  and 
at  the  request  of  the  State  of  Michigan,  to  second  the 
nomination  of  John  A.  Logan,  of  Illinois  [applause],  and  I 
only  wish  to  say  that  in  doing  that  we  will  light  the  camp- 
fires  among  the  soldiers  of  the  country  from  one  end  of  this 
Nation  to  the  other."  [Applause.] 

MR.  DANCY,  of  North  Carolina — Mr.  Chairman  and  gentle- 
men of  the  convention :  I  am  here,  the  humble  representa- 

8 


114  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

tive  of  twelve  hundred  thousand  colored  voters  in  this  coun- 
try ;  and  I  believe,  gentlemen  of  the  convention,  that  with 
the  nomination  already  made  of  the  Hon.  James  G.  Blaine, 
of  Maine,  if  to  that  you  will  add  the  name  of  John  A. 
Logan,  you  will  strengthen  the  confidence  and  courage  of 
this  twelve  hundred  thousand  colored  voters,  and  each  and 
every  one  of  them  on  the  day  of  the  election  will  be  found 
at  the  polls  casting  their  votes  for  him.  [Applause.]  Gen- 
tlemen, we  know  John  A.  Logan  in  the  South ;  we  have 
learned  to  love  him  and  to  honor  him.  He  has  stood  by  us 
under  any  and  all  circumstances.  We  will  be  certain 
to  stand  by  him.  [Applause.]  Great  in  war,  he  has  been 
likewise  great  in  peace,  and,  keeping  the  even  tenor  of  his 
way,  he  has  won  the  confidence  and  the  respect,  not  only  of 
the  Republican  party,  but  of  the  Democratic  party  as  well 
[applause]  ;  and  I  believe  that  he  can  command  as  many 
votes  in  the  State  as  any  man  who  could  be  named ;  and,  as 
we  have  a  State  that  was  Democratic  by  only  three  hun- 
dred, two  years  ago,  we  know  that  with  this  ticket  we  can 
carry  it  and  give  five  thousand  majority  in  this  election. 
[Applause.]  And  so,  speaking  for  North  Carolina,  I  say  for 
it,  as  I  say  also  for  some  others  of  the  Southern  States,  we 
are  for  John  A.  Logan  first,  last,  and  all  the  time. 

Mr.  Arnold,  of  Georgia,  was  recognized  by  the  Chair. 
Some  enthusiastic  delegate  moved  that  Logan  be  nominated 
by  acclamation,  but  was  not  recognized. 

MR.  ARNOLD — Mr.  Chairman :  As  the  representative  of 
twenty -four  true  and  noble  men  as  ever  trod  the  soil,  and 
who  stood  by  Chester  A.  Arthur  until  his  flag  went  down, 
I  rise  in  my  place  to  second  the  nomination  of  John  A. 


REP  UBLICAN  NOMLNA  TIONS.  115 

Logan.  [Applause.]  And  while  we,  sir,  in  Georgia,  are  not 
able  to  give  you  an  electoral  vote,  we  pledge  to  you  our 
aid,  sympathy,  active  support,  and  all  that  there  is  within 
us.  [Applause.] 

MR.  DAWES,  of  Missouri — Mr.  Chairman,  I  move  you  that 
the  nomination  of  John  A.  Logan  be  made  by  acclamation. 

Mr.  Howe,  of  Nebraska,  make  a  similar  motion. 

The  Chairman  put  the  question  on  the  motion,  and,  on 
the  vote  being  had,  said :  "  It  requires  two-thirds  to  suspend 
the  rules,  and  the  Chair  being  in  doubt  the  roll  will  be 
called." 

The  Clerk  called  the  State  of  Alabama. 

MR.  CARR,  of  Illinois — Mr.  Chairman,  there  have  several 
gentlemen  expressed  a  desire  to  speak,  and  so  far  every  one 
who  has  spoken,  has  spoken  words  that  are  grateful  and 
precious  to  every  Illinois  heart.  There  are  others  who  still 
desire  to  speak  and  I  hope  that  the  roll  will  not  be  called. 
I  hope  that  this  action  will  be  suspended  until  gentlemen 
from  other  States  who  desire  to  speak  shall  have  been  heard 
from.  [Applause.] 

Mr.  Bradley,  of  Kentucky,  had  been  standing  on  his 
chair  attempting  to  get  the  attention  of  the  Chairman,  and 
loud  calls  were  made  for  him. 

MR.  HOWE,  of  Nebraska — Mr.  Chairman,  we  are  assured 
by  the  gentlemen  who  have  already  spoken  that  it  is  only 
a  question  of  time  that  the  nomination  of  John  A.  Logan 
will  be  made  unanimous,  and  I  withdraw  my  motion  to 
make  it  by  acclamation. 

Considerable  confusion  was  caused  by  delegates  in  all 
parts  of  the  hall  attempting  to  gain  the  eye  of  the  Chair- 


116  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

man.  One  delegate  suggested  to  the  Chair  that  he  ought  to 
preserve  order  or  put  some  one  in  the  chair  who  could. 

Mr.  Lee,  of  South  Carolina,  was  recognized  by  the 
Chairman,  but  the  calls  for  Bradley  were  renewed,  and  Mr. 
Lee  was  unable  to  proceed. 

A  delegate  from  Mississippi  suggested  that  the  gentle- 
man from  Kentucky  go  ahead  on  the  east  side  of  the  hall 
and  Mr.  Lee  on  the  west.  [Laughter.] 

MR.  LEE — I  most  cheerfully  yield  to  the  distinguished 
gentleman  from  Kentucky,  provided  I  shall  be  accorded  the 
privilege  of  speaking  for  the  Republicans  of  my  State  when 
he  shall  have  finished. 

MR.  BRADLEY,  of  Kentucky — Mr.  Chairman,  I  am  warned 
by  the  condition  of  my  voice  not  to  undertake  to  speak 
against  the  tumult  of  this  multitude.  I  simply  arise  as  one 
of  those  fifteen  faithful  Kentuckians  who,  through  sunshine 
and  through  storm,  followed  the  fate  of  our  gallant  leader, 
Chester  A.  Arthur,  to  second  the  nomination  of  the  great 
volunteer  soldier  of  Illinois — a  statesman  wise  in  council,  a 
soldier  upon  whose  sword  there  is  no  stain  of  dishonor,  a 
friend  of  the  oppressed.  No  more  gallant  knight  ever  drew 
lance  upon  the  bloody  fields  of  Palestine,  or  fell  beneath 
the  gleaming  scimiter  of  Saladin.  I  arise  for  the  purpose  of 
seconding  the  nomination  of  General  Logan  in  behalf  of  the 
hundred  thousand,  yes  the  hundred  thousand  brave  soldiers 
who  have  marched  under  the  Union  flag,  and  kept  step  to 
the  music  of  the  Union  from  the  State  of  Kentucky. 
[Cheers.]  You  have  given  us  a  great  statesman  from  Maine, 
and  I  for  one  bow  my  humble  acquiescence,  and  am  willing, 
with  all  the  Republicans  of  this  Union,  to  follow  where  his 


REP  UBLICAN  NOMINA  TIONS.  117 

white  plume  shines.  [Loud  cheers.]  With  Elaine  as  our 
candidate  for  President,  with  Logan  as  our  candidate  for 
Vice-president  we  shall  sweep  the  country  and  wipe  from 
the  political  map  the  name  of  Democracy,  so  that  the  places 
that  know  it  now  shall  know  it  no  more  forever.  [Loud 
applause.]  I  would  like  to  say  more  upon  this  fruitful 
theme,  but  the  condition  of  my  voice,  as  well  as  the  state 
of  your  patience,  remind  me  that  I  have  said  enough.  [Cries 
of  "Go  on,  go  on."]  And  now,  in  conclusion,  fellow-citi- 
zens of  the  whole  Republic  who  are  assembled  here  and  del- 
egates in  this  convention,  down  in  the  State  of  Kentucky, 
where  the  black  cloud  of  Democracy  still  hovers  over  us, 
let  me  say  to  you  that,  while  we  can  not  give  you  our  elec- 
toral votes,  we  will  in  November  poll  for  Elaine  and  Logan 
120,000  brave  men  and  true.  [Applause.]  I  have  said 
enough,  and  I  thank  you  again  and  again  for  your  kindness 
in  asking  me  to  second  this  nomination.  [Loud  applause.] 
MR.  LEE,  of  South  Carolina — I  come  from  a  State  that 
gave  the  United  States  Government  the  first  colored  sol- 
diers that  the  United  States  Government  ever  had  in  its 
army.  In  1862,  in  the  town  of  Beaufort,  South  Carolina, 
Colonel  Higginson,  of  Massachusetts,  organized  the  first 
colored  troops.  I  am  here  to-night,  and  I  am  glad  that  it 
is  my  privilege  upon  this  occasion,  to  say  to  the  American 
people  assembled  here  in  a  Republican  National  Convention 
that  those  people  in  South  Carolina  never  can  forget  the 
memorable  march  through  that  State  of  Sherman's  army. 
In  that  army  was  the  gallant  and  brave  John  A.  Logan. 
[Applause.]  They  know  him  and  they  love  him,  and  their 
anxious  hearts  have  been  waiting,  hoping  to  hear  from  this 


118  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

convention,  that  if  the  first  choice,  Chester  A.  Arthur, 
should  not  not  made  the  nominee  of  this  convention,  their 
hearts  would  be  made  glad  by  the  news  being  wired  to 
them  that  John  A.  Logan  was  the  fortunate  choice  of  this 
convention.  [Applause.] 

MR.  PETTIBONE,  of  Tennessee — Mr.  Chairman,  in  the  name 
of  three-quarters  of  a  million  of  the  old  soldiers  of  the  Re- 
public who  did  not  stay  at  home,  but  went  to  the  front,  and 
in  the  name  of  30,000  ex-rebel  soldiers  of  Tennessee,  we  all 
of  us  rejoice  in  the  name  of  Black  Jack  Logan.  [Cheers.] 

MR.  LEE,  resuming,  said :  Tennessee  feels  at  liberty 
to  take  any  privilege  she  sees  a  chance  to  take.  [Laugh- 
ter.] Mr.  Chairman,  I  shall  not  move  to  strike  out  the  gen- 
eral s  part,  for  he  and  I,  away  from  the  close  relations  that 
our  States  bear  to  each  other,  are  closely  allied  as  individ- 
uals, until  I  am  always  proud  to  be  connected  with  him  in 
any  way.  And  I  wish  to  say  also,  briefly,  that  South  Car- 
olina gave  the  first  volunteer  to  the  United  States  navy  in 
the  person  of  the  hero,  Robert  Smalls,  who  carried  the  ban- 
ner to  the  harbor  of  Charleston,  and  brought  it  over  from 
the  Confederate  army  and  delivered  it  up  to  the  Federal 
navy.  The  people  in  South  Carolina  will  go  to  the  polls  if 
John  A.  Logan  is  upon  the  ticket  with  the  brilliant  genius 
of  James  G.  Elaine,  and  will  get  there  at  any  risk,  as  they 
have  done  before ;  and  no  name  connected  with  James  G. 
Blaine  will  create  that  enthusiasm  in  South  Carolina  as  the 
name  of  John  A.  Logan. 

Several  delegates  at  this  point  tried  to  attract  the  atten- 
of  the  Chair,  but  there  was  too  much  confusion  and  cries  of 
"  Call  the  roll." 


REPUBLICAN  NOMINATIONS.  119 

The  Chair  finally  recognized  Mr.  Frank  Morey,  of  Lou- 
isiana, who  advanced  to  the  platform  and  spoke  as  follows  : 

MR.  MOREY — -Mr.  Chairman  and  gentlemen  of  the  con- 
vention :  At  the  request  of  the  solid  delegation  of  more  than 
one  Southern  State  besides  the  State  of  Louisiana,  I  rise  to 
second  the  nomination  of  John  A.  Logan.  Mr.  Chairman, 
in  1861,  when  I  left  my  prairie  home  in  Illinois  to  assist  in 
fighting  the  battles  of  the  Union,  it  was  my  good  fortune  to 
be  under  the  command  of  General  John  A.  Logan  in  our 
march  from  the  Ohio  River  on  our  way  to  the  Gulf.  At 
the  conclusion  of  the  war,  and  after  peace  had  settled  upon 
the  country,  and  when  a  fighting  constituency  had  sent  me 
from  my  new  home  in  Louisiana  to  the  halls  of  Congress, 
my  first  committee  work  was  done  on  the  Committee  of 
Military  Affairs,  of  which  General  John  A.  Logan  was  the 
Chairman.  Mr.  President,  I  know  him  well,  and  I  love  him 
with  my  whole  heart.  I  have  watched  his  career  as  a 
statesman,  and  on  all  public  questions  he  has  been  almost 
invariably  right,  and  upon  all  questions  touching  the  pro- 
tection of  the  lives  and  the  liberties,  particularly  the  polit- 
ical and  civil  rights  of  the  Republicans,  both  white  and 
black,  in  the  South,  he  has  been  always  right.  And,  sir, 
the  Republicans  of  the  South  will  feel,  in  the  election  of 
General  John  A.  Logan  as  Vice-president,  that  they  will 
always  have  a  true  friend  and  tried  counselor  having 
the  confidence  of  the  Chief  Executive  of  the  Nation.  It 
will  give  renewed  courage  to  the  saddened  hearts  of  South- 
ern Republicans  now  fighting  the  unequal  battle  of  Repub- 
licanism in  the  South.  General  Logan  is  the  grand  develop- 
ment of  the  brave,  generous,  and  courageous  sentiment  of 


120  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

the  people,  and  combines  the  glorious  manhood  of  the  true 
and  gallant  soldier  and  the  eminent  statesman.  [Applause.] 
Every  element  of  his  character  is  that  of  a  true  American, 
and  his  nomination  as  Vice-president,  with  James  G.  Elaine 
[loud  applause],  will  electrify  the  patriotic  sentiment  of  the 
loyal  people  of  this  country  [loud  applause]  and  will  fee  the 
cap-sheaf  of  the  magnificent  work  begun  by  this  convention. 

MR.  HILL,  of  Mississippi — I  suggest  that  we  proceed  to 
nominate  General  Logan  by  acclamation,  and  let  us  go  to  bed 
and  have  the  other  speeches  printed.  [Laughter.] 

MR.  BLAIR,  of  Virginia — I  speak  by  request  of  General 
Mahone,  the  chairman  of  the  Virginia  delegation,  and  inas- 
much as  Senator  Mahone  is  not  able  to  be  here  to-night  by 
physical  disability.  I  am  here  to  represent  in  this  convention 
the  Union  soldiers  that  followed  General  John  A.  Logan  in  the 
last  contest,  but  I  am  here  as  a  member  of  the  Republican 
Virginia  delegation,  that  represents  in  Virginia  30,000  Con- 
federate soldier  that  have  come  to  the  rescue  of  the  Republic. 
I  was  a  Confederate  soldier  myself  for  four  years,  as  were 
many  of  the  delegation  with  whom  I  am  now  associated, 
and  I  serve  notice  upon  these  Northern  Republicans  that 
they  must  look  well  to  their  laurels,  because  in  old  Virginia 
we  have  erected  the  standard  of  Republicanism,  and  in  the 
vocabulary  of  Virginia  liberalism,  there  is  no  such  word  as 
fail.  [Loud  applause.]  And  that  little  handful  of  ex- 
Confederate  soldiers  and  Virginians  who  raised  the  revolt 
against  Democratic  outrage  have  grown  in  their  growth  and 
strengthened  with  their  strength  until  to-day  we  have  127,000 
that  will  vote  for  James  G.  Elaine  and  John  A.  Logan  as 
President  and  Vice-president  of  the  United  States.  I,  there- 


REP  UBLICAN  NOMINA  TIONS.  121 

fore,  in  behalf  of  the  Virginia  delegation,  rise  to  second  the 
nomination  of  John  A.  Logan,  and  move  that  the  nomina- 
tion be  made  unanimous. 

MR.  TAYLOR,  of  Illinois — I  now  renew  my  motion  that 
the  rules  be  suspended  and  General  John  A.  Logan  be  de- 
clared the  nominee  of  this  convention  for  Vice-president. 
[Applause.] 

GENERAL  J.  S.  ROBINSON,  of  Ohio — Mr.  Chairman:  In 
behalf  of  the  Republicans  of  Ohio,  I  desire  to  second  the 
nomination.  I  followed  General  Logan  on  many  a  hard- 
fought  field,  and  he  never  in  any  instance  failed  to  respond 
to  the  sound  of  the  enemy's  musketry.  I  therefore  move 
to  suspend  the  rules  to  nominate  General  Logan  by  accla- 
mation. [Loud  applause.]  Mr.  Chairman,  I  insist  upon  my 
motion,  which  has  been  seconded  by  several  delegations,  to 
suspend  the  rules  and  nominate  General  Logan  by  acclama- 
tion. 

MR.  CHAIRMAN — It  is  moved  that  the  rules  be  sus- 
pended, and  that  General  Logan  be  nominated  by  acclama- 
tion. All  in  favor  of  that  motion  will  say  aye. 

The  motion  was  carried  almost  unanimously,  and  General 
Logan  was  declared  the  nominee  of  the  convention  for  Vice- 
president. 

MR.  LAMPSON,  of  Ohio — Mr.  Chairman  and  gentlemen  of 
the  convention  :  The  Nineteenth  District  of  Ohio,  the  banner 
district  of  the  Union,  which  was  so  long  and  so  ably  repre- 
sented in  the  National  Congress  by  that  grand  statesman  and 
civilian  whom  the  last  Republican  National  Convention  de- 
lighted to  honor  with  the  highest  position  in  the  gift  of  the 
Republican  party  [loud  applause],  promises  20,000  Republi- 


122 


LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 


can  majority  for  the  bosom  friend  of  our  martyred  Garfield, 
James  G.  Elaine,  of  Maine,  and  the  grand  old  soldier,  John 
A.  Logan,  of  Illinois.  [Loud  applause.] 

MR.  DAVIS,  of  Illinois — Mr.  Chairman,  on  behalf  of  the 
State  of  Illinois,  I  ask  that  the  roll  shall  be  called,  at  the 
request  of  our  delegates,  in  the  nomination.  [Applause  and 
a  voice  :  "  Amen !"] 

THE  CHAIRMAN — The  Secretary  will  call  the  roll. 

The  Secretary  then  called  the  roll  of  States,  with  the 
following  result : 


STATES  AND  TERRITORIES. 

3 
p 

•4 

1 
f 

20 
14 
16 
6 
12 
6 
8 
24 
44 
30 
26 
18 
26 
16 
12 
16 
28 
26 
14 
18 
32 
10 
6 
8 
18 

f 
a 

Gresham.... 

Foraker  

STATES  AND  TERRITORIES. 

5-5 

p 

< 
o 
a 

3 

Gresham  

Foraker  

Alabama,    
Arkansas    

20 
14 
16 
6 
5 
6 
8 
24 
44 
30 
26 
18 
26 
16 
12 
16 
12 
26 
14 
18 
30 
10 
6 
8 
18 

New  York      

72 
22 
46 
6 
60 
8 
18 
24 
26 
8 
24 
12 
22 
2 
2 
2 
2 
2 
2 
2 
2 
2 

00 
22 
46 
6 
59 
8 
18 
24 
26 
8 
24 
12 
19 
2 

2 
2 

2 
2 
2 
2 
2 
2 

779 

1 

> 

1 

North  Carolina,    .    .    . 
Ohio     

California   

Colorado     

Oregon    

Connecticut,  .... 
Delaware    

Pennsylvania,  . 
Rhode  Island,  . 
South  Carolina, 
Tennessee,     .    • 
Texas,     .    - 
Vermont     

Florida    

Georgia,  

Illinois,  

Indiana       

Iowa,   
Kansas    

West  Virginia,     .   .   . 

Kentucky       .... 

Louisiana,  

Maine,    '  
Maryland,  

Dakota,  
District  of  Columbia,  . 
Idaho,  
Montana     

Massachusetts,  .   .    . 
Michigan,  
Minnesota,     .... 
Mississippi,    .... 
Missouri,    

New  Mexico,  

Utah               

Nebraska,  

Wyoming,  
Total        

New  Hampshire,     . 
New  Jersey,  .... 

820 

( 

J      1 

When   the   Chairman    of  the    Massachusetts    delegation 
(Senator  Hoar)  announced  the  vote  of  that  delegation  to  be 


REP  UBLICAN  NOMINA  TIONS.  123 

nine  for  Logan  and  three  for  Fairchild,  of  Wisconsin,  it  was 
greeted  with  hisses.  After  the  vote  of  Mississippi  was  an- 
nounced, Mr.  Cra<po?  of  the  Massachusetts  delegation,  said : 
"  Mr.  President,  I  desire  to  announce  again  the  vote  of  Massa- 
chusetts. [Cries  of  "  No  objection,"  "  Unanimous,"  "  Go 
ahead."]  Those  of  the  delelates  that  are  here  vote  twelve 
for  Logan,  being  the  entire  number  that  are  present."  [Ap- 
plause.] 

When  New  York  was  reached  in  the  call  of  States,  Mr. 
Curtis  said : 

"  Mr.  Chairman,  I  desire  that  New  York  may  be  allowed  a 
little  time  to  complete  her  tally.  [Cries  of  "  Go  on  !"]  New 
York  is  not  quite  ready  to  report  her  vote;  I  ask  that  a 
little  time  be  given  me  to  complete  the  count."  ["  Time !" 
"Time!"] 

MR.  HUSTED,  of  New  York — Mr.  Chairman,  I  ask  that  the 
rule  may  be  suspended  so  that  the  other  States  may  be 
called  and  New  York  called  afterwards.  I  ask  unanimous 
consent. 

THE  CHAIRMAN — It  will  be  so  ordered  without  objection. 

When  the  District  of  Columbia  was  reached  Mr.  Conger 
sprang  to  his  feet  and  in  clarion  tones  yelled  : 

"  Mr.  Chairman,  Mr.  Chairman,  I  cast  my  vote  for  John 
A.  Logan."  [Laughter  and  great  applause.] 

Mr.  CARSON — Mr.  Chairman,  this  is  the  first  time  the 
gentleman  has  agreed  with  me.  [Renewed  laughter.]  I 
cast  my  vote  for  John  A.  Logan. 

At  the  end  of  the  roll-call  New  York  was  again  called 
upon  to  cast  her  vote.  Mr.  Curtis  announced  the  vote  as 
follows  : 


124  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

"  One  vote  for  Foraker,  six  votes  for  Gresham,  sixty 
votes  for  John  A.  Logan." 

The  crowd  then  broke  forth  into  loud  and  prolonged  up- 
roar, the  band  playing  the  "  Star  Spangled  Banner,"  while 
the  Chairman  sought  to  restore  order.  When  order  had 
been  partially  restored,  Mr.  Winston,  of  North  Carolina,  ad- 
dressed the  Chair  as  follows  : 

"  Mr.  Chairman,  I  move  that  the  nomination  of  Mr. 
Logan  be  made  unanimous." 

THE  CHAIRMAN — The  question  now  is,  Shall  the  nomina- 
tion be  made  unanimous  ? 

It  was  carried. 

MR.  HUSTED,  of  New  York — Mr.  Chairman,  I  move  that 
the  thanks  of  this  convention  be  tendered  to  the  temporary 
and  permanent  officers  of  the  convention  for  the  faithful  per- 
formance of  the  duties  which  have  been  placed  upon  them. 

Which  was  carried,  and  amid  the  most  hearty  enthusiasm, 
at  9.45  P.  M.,  the  great  convention  stood  adjourned  sine  die. 


THE  PRESS  AND  THE  PEOPLE.  125 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  PRESS  AND  THE  PEOPLE.— VOX  POPULI. 
"The  noblest  motive  is  the  public  good."  VERGIL. 

T7MORY  A.  STORKS:  We  have  at  the  head  of  the 
I  J  ticket  a  man  who  is  the  spirit  of  independent  and  gen- 
uine Republicanism  made  manifest  in  the  flesh.  We  have  a 
man  who  believes  in  the  dignity  of  our  existence  and  in  the 
necessity  of  preserving  and  maintaining  it.  We  have  a  man 
who  believes  in  giving  no  insults  to  any  individual  or 
Power,  and  will  tamely  submit  to  no  Power  under  God's 
heavens.  [Applause.]  We  have  a  man  who  believes  that 
this  continent  belongs  to  us,  and  all  of  it.  [Applause.] 
We  have  a  man  who  believes  in  the  protection  of  our 
large  and  multiplied  industries ;  a  man  who  believes,  and 
believes  it  in  his  soul,  that  the  producer  is  more  worthy 
than  the  product,  and  that  the  policy  of  our  govern- 
ment is  not  the  cheap  shoe,  but  the  prosperous  and 
happy  shoemaker.  We  have  a  man  who  believes  that 
the  Nation,  when  it  makes  any  promise,  must  keep  it, 
and  if  that  promise  be  a  protection  to  the  citizen,  it  must 
protect  that  citizen  wherever  he  may  be,  even  at  the  cost 
of  war.  [Applause.]  We  have  a  man  at  the  head  of  our 
ticket  who  believes  that  a  national  engagement  means  some- 
thing solid  and  solemn,  and  that  underneath  the  stars  no 
man  resting  under  the  flag  on  any  foot  of  ground  shall 


126  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

have  his  right  to  vote  challenged  and  the  counting  of  that 
vote  as  cast  questioned.  We  have  a  man  who  believes — 
supported  by  another  man  who  believes — that  the  spirit  of 
our  institutions  stands  proudly  enthroned  among  the  stars, 
and  that,  when  the  poorest  and  humblest  citizen  is  insulted 
and  outraged  in  his  rights,  that  spirit  will  come  down  with 
sword  and  shield,  take  the  quivering  and  trembling  black 
man  by  the  hand,  lead  him  safely  through  the  files  of  the 
enemy  until  he  can  vote,  and  speak,  and  think  as  he 
pleases.  [Applause.]  This  is  our  platform.  These  are 
our  candidates.  Your  second  choice,  selected  with  a  unanim- 
ity almost  marvelous  in  great  conventions  of  this  charac- 
ter, had  every  trace  of  Democratic  blood  fired  out  of  him 
when  the  first  shot  exploded  upon  the  walls  of  Sumter. 
From  that  time  to  this,  undeviating,  unwavering,  and  unfal- 
tering, there  has  never  been  a  Republican  idea  of  which 
John  A.  Logan  has  not  been  a  vigorous  and  aggressive,  an 
eloquent,  and  a  courageous  champion.  [Applause.]  We 
have  the  real  spirit  of  the  fiber  of  the  party  embodied  and 
illustrated  by  this  great  ticket.  We  have  a  platform  broad 
enough  for  every  citizen  to  stand  upon. 

NEW  YORK  Tribune:  James  G.  Elaine  has  been  nomi- 
nated by  the  people,  and  will  be  elected  by  the  people.  For 
a  quarter  of  a  century  no  other  candidate  has  been  more 
clearly  preferred  by  the  voters.  Patronage  had  no  part  in 
his  nomination.  Even  in  the  hour  of  their  defeat  his 
opponents  did  not  attribute  his  success  to  any  unworthy 
influence.  By  them  it  was  admitted,  as  it  must  be  admitted 
by  all,  that  the  people  desired  the  nomination  of  Mr. 
Elaine.  Mr.  Elaine  is  the  strongest  candidate  the  Repub- 


THE  PRESS  AND  THE  PEOPLE.  127 

lican  party  could  have  nominated,  because  he  best  repre- 
sents its  convictions.  The  name  of  Mr.  Elaine  had  been  so 
identified  with  tjie  economic  policy  which  the  Republican 
party  holds  most  dear  that  the  popular  preference  for  him, 
at  a  time  when  that  policy  was  threatened  by  a  Democratic 
majority  in  Congress,  was  exceedingly  natural.  The  nomi- 
nation of  General  Logan  for  Vice-president  was  also  espe- 
cially fortunate.  He  has  great  strength  at  the  West,  and 
with  the  soldiers  everywhere,  and  his  name  will  kindle  the 
enthusiasm  of  Republicans  at  the  South.  The  ticket  can 
not  be  beaten. 

CHICAGO  Tribune:  No  living  American  statesman  ever 
filled  the  hearts  of  the  people  more  completely  than  Blaine 
does.  The  martyrdom  of  Lincoln  and  Garfield  has  won  for 
them  a  peculiar  veneration  which  no  man  in  life  can  hope 
to  attain,  but  Blaine  has  reached  the  highest  place  in  pub- 
lic esteem.  He  is  admired  as  the  most  brilliant  statesman 
of  his  day ;  he  is  loved  for  his  warm  nature ;  his  American- 
ism is  so  broad,  bold,  and  spirited  that  it  has  won  the  ap- 
plause of  his  political  opponents.  The  elevation  of  such  a 
man  to  the  Chief  Magistracy  will  be  a  matter  of  pride  to 
every  patriotic  American  citizen.  The  same  universal  admi- 
ration which  pushed  him  into  nomination  will  achieve 
his  election. 

If  a  plebiscite  of  the  Republican  party  could  have  been 
ordered  on  the  nomination,  Blaine  would  have  received 
four  million  out  of  the  five  million  Republican  votes  against 
all  other  candidates.  The  opposition  to  him  came  from  the 
shoulder-straps ;  the  rank  and  file  were  nearly  all  for  him,  and 
it  is  the  rank  and  file  which  furnish  the  votes  on  election- 


128  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

day.  The  same  popular  sentiment  which  has  nominated  him 
will  elect  him.  Any  resentment  among  the  politicians  born 
of  chagrin  just  at  this  moment  will  vanish  into  thin  air  be- 
fore the  steady  march  of  popular  feeling.  No  man  who  is 
at  heart  with  the  Republican  party  can  hold  out  against 
the  masses  of  the  party.  Those  who  have  worked  against 
Elaine  will  be  influenced  b*y  the  prompt  and  cordial  tender 
of  hearty  support  made  by  President  Arthur  the  very  mo- 
ment it  became  evident  that  Elaine  would  be  nominated. 
This  example  will  be  imitated  with  a  contagion  which  will 
sweep  through  all  factions  and  extend  from  Maine  to  Cali- 
fornia. Maine  will  start  the  ball  in  September,  Ohio  will  keep 
it  moving  in  October,  and  it  will  grow  into  an  avalanche  in 
November,  to  which  every  Northern  State,  and  at  least 
West  Virginia  and  Delaware  among  the  Southern  States, 
will  contribute  its  strength. 

Elaine,  in  addition  to  all  his  personal  claims,  is  the  legit- 
imate successor  to  the  popular  confidence  which  Garfield's 
brief  administration  inspired.  Elaine  and  Garfield  were 
closely  united  in  personal  and  political  sympathy.  Elaine, 
as  Garfield's  Premier,  was  almost  as  conspicuous  a  figure  as 
Garfield  himself,  and  he  was  the  originator  of  a  continental 
American  policy  which  was  the  most  striking  and  brilliant 
conception  of  Garfield's  administration.  Had  Garfield  lived, 
neither  Elaine  nor  his  friends  would  have  disputed  his  right 
to  a  renomination  under  the  precedents  which  reward  a  suc- 
cessful and  popular  President  with  a  second  term;  but  Gar- 
fild's  death  left  Elaine  his  natural  heir  to  the  glory  of  his 
administration.  It  is  no  reflection  upon  President  Arthur 
that  he  was  not  able  under  the  circumstances  to  capture  the 


THE  PRESS  AND  THE  PEOPLE.  129 

people  from  Elaine;  it  would  have  been  strange  if  he  could 
have  done  so.  The  people  have  chosen  their  leader  and 
raised  their  banner.  They  will  march  on  to  victory  under 
the  Plumed  Knight  as  surely  and  steadily  as  the  Blaine 
army  in  the  convention  proceeded  to  the  nomination,  gather- 
ing new  strength  at  every  step.  No  Presidential  candidate 
ever  had  a  better  assurance  of  election  than  Blaine  has  to- 
day, unless  it  was  General  Jackson  or  Thomas  Jefferson. 

CINCINNATI  Commercial  Gazette :  James  Gr.  Blaine  is  the 
Henry  Clay  of  his  age  and  generation,  with  the  personal 
fascination  and  charm  of  Clay,  with  all  his  fine  audacity 
and  more  than  his  political  prudence.  It  was  an  unwise 
letter  that  defeated  Clay  forty  years  ago,  and  not  the  power 
or  the  malice  of  his  enemies,_or  the  mistakes  of  his  friends. 
We  are  sure  of  a  glorious  candidate  in  Blaine.  The  more 
we  hear  from  him  the  better,  and  we  are  likely  to  hear  very 
much.  The  magnetic  storm  which  has  raged  in  Chicago  for 
a  week,  and  broke  "forth  there  in  an  illumination  that  like 
the  northern  lights,  shone  over  the  skies,  will  overspread 
the  country  *from  the  lakes  to  the  gulf  and  sea  to  sea.  It 
will  quicken  the  whole  people  of  the  United  States  and 
brighten  their  public  life  to  elect  Blaine  President,  and  the 
safety  and  splendor  of  his  administration  will  solidify  Re- 
publicanism at  home,  and  lift  the  great  Republic  still  higher 
among  the  Nations  of  the  earth.  .  .  .  Not  only  has  the  ma- 
jority of  the  party  clearly  declared  for  Blaine,  but  the  enthu- 
siasts, in  urging  the  nomination,  have  everywhere  been  the 
brightest  and  the  foremost  in  the  party  service. 

MURAT  HALSTEAD:  There  is  potentiality  in  the  names  of 
Blaine  and  Logan,  and  those  who  think  the  Republican  party, 


130  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

embattled  under  its  chosen  leader,  can  be  overthrown  with  the 
aid  of  personalities,  in  cartoons  and  squibs,  that  the  Demo- 
cratic party  may  be  enabled  to  make,  with  its  head  shaken  by 
paralysis,  and  its  hands  stained  with  murder,  are  mistaken. 
The  Republican  party  was  never  so  strong  as  now,  and  the 
Democratic  party  never  had  less  to  show  the  people  in  the  way 
of  reasons  for  trusting  it  with  our  weightiest  public  affairs. 

If  there  is  a  possibility  of  beating  Elaine,  it  is  because 
New  York  is  European  rather  than  American,  and  I  do  not 
concede  that  there  is  enough  of  that  to  overpower  the  man 
who  represents  the  height  and  the  breadth  of  American 
policy  and  politics.  If  the  Democrats  gather  strength  so  as 
to  seriously  threaten  the  defeat  of  Elaine  and  Logan,  there 
will  be  such  a  campaign  as  never  yet  has  shaken  this  country. 
If  it  were  not  for  the  votes  of  the  Solid  South,  there  would 
be  no  more  chance  for  the  defeat  of  Elaine  and  Logan  than 
there  would  have  been  to  beat  Elaine  in  either  of  the  three 
latest  National  Republican  Conventions,  if  the  delegation 
had  been  made  up  in  the  several  States  according  to  the 
Republican  strength.  $ 

PHILADELPIA  Times :  He  will  be  the  master  spirit,  the  lea- 
der of  leaders,  in  his  own  campaign.  The  party  will  follow 
him  with  the  devotion  and  enthusiasm  of  the  army  that  bore 
the  eagle  of  France  when  Napoleon  marched  for  Moscow,  and 
even  in  defeat  he  would  be  worshiped  by  the  rank  and  file 
as  was  the  man  of  destiny  after  Russia  and  Elba.  He  will 
start  the  contest  of  1884  with  spontaneous  energy  in  every 
section  of  the  country.  He  will  carry  Ohio  in  October, 
even  with  German  prejudices  strongly  against  him.  He  will 
disturb  Democratic  confidence  in  West  Virginia,  the  other 


THE  PRESS  AND  THE  PEOPLE.  131 

important  October  State,  and  he  will  be  likely  to  recall 
California  and  Nevada  from  their  Democratic  diversion  of 
1880  to  join  Oregon  in  a  solid  Republican  electoral  vote  on 
the  golden  slope  of  the  Pacific. 

BOSTON  Journal:  It  is  sufficient  for  us,  as  members  of 
the  Republican  party,  to  know  that  Mr.  Elaine  is  to  lead  the 
party  in  the  coming  campaign.  He  is  to  stand  upon  a  plat- 
form which  was  adopted  by  the  Republican  delegates,  and 
to  give  him,  therefore,  as  the  accepted  leader,  cordial  sup- 
port, is  a  duty  which  every  Republican  owes  to  the  party. 
Of  the  election  of  Mr.  Elaine  there  in  very  little  question. 
The  campaign  thus  far  has  shown  his  wonderful  strength 
with  the  people.  We  confess  that  the  spontaneous  move- 
ment for  Mr.  Elaine  at  the  West  is  something  unprecedented. 
No  effort  on  his  part  was  made  to  secure  delegates.  They 
flocked  to  his  banner  as  soon  as  it  was  raised  at  Chicago. 
And  his  supporters  are  not  political  adventurers  of  the 
noisy  element  which  is  found  in  every  party.  They  repre- 
sent the  best  type  of  Americans  and  the  strongest  Republi- 
canism. In  this  State  there  is  a  feeling  of  opposition  to  Mr. 
Elaine,  which  makes  it  more  difficult  for  many  Republicans 
to  admit  that  his  supporters  ^are  among  the  ablest  and  most 
conscientious  men  in  their  respective  communities.  This  we 
shall  come  to  understand  and  appreciate  as  the  contest  pro- 
ceeds. We  do  not  underrate  the  disadvantages  incident  to 
a  campaign  under;  his  leadership,  but  we  must  not  lose  sight 
of  the  assurance  given  at  Chicago,  that  he  possesses  a  follow- 
ing greater  than  that  of  any  other  man  in  the  party.  He  is 
the  choice  of  the  Republican  convention — honestly  and  fairly 
nominated,  and  as  such  will  receive  the  cordial  support  of 


132          LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

the    men   who   have  voted  for  Lincoln,  Grant,   Hayes  and 
Garfield. 

PHILADELPHIA  Ledger :  As  a  student  of  American  political 
history  under  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  there 
is  probably  no  man  better  versed  and  very  few  so  well. 
This  knowledge  has  not  been  wholly  acquired  through  his 
contact  with  public  affairs  in  the  House  of  Representatives, 
the  Senate,  and  the  State  Department,  but  has  been  supple- 
mented by  extensive  reading.  In  these  respects,  of  large 
experience  in  our  public  affairs  and  acquired  knowledge  of 
our  political  history,  it  is  quite  probable  that  he  is  more 
amply  equipped  for  the  Presidential  office  than  any  nominee 
heretofore  presented  to  the  people  by  his  party.  What  his 
supreme  ability  in  debate  is,  and  of  what  high  character  is 
his  intellectual  force,  are  matters  within  the  common  knowl- 
edge of  all  who  know  anything  of  the  affairs  of  the  Federal 
Government ;  and  so,  too,  of  his  party  courage  and  devotion, 
and  his  intense  patriotism  as  an  American.  His  party,  con- 
sidering it  as  the  lineal  successor  of  the  old  Whig  organiza- 
tion, has  had  no  such  brilliant,  forcible,  and  popular  champion 
since  the  days  of  Henry  Clay.  His  nomination  must  be 
accepted  everywhere,  abroad  as  well  as  at  home,  as  that  of 
one  of  the  foremost  among  living  American  statesmen  ;  and 
if  he  should  be  elected,  no  one  can  reproach  the  people  of 
the  United  States  as  having  gone  to  the  subordinate  ranks 
of  their  public  men  for  the  Chief  Executive  of  their  country. 
PHILADELPHIA  Press:  Any  other  nomination  would  have 
caused  a  disappointment  to  the  Republican  masses  so  deep 
as  to  be  closely  akin  to  resentment.  There  never  was  any 
doubt  about  Mr.  Elaine's  nomination  except  that  which  arose 


THE  PRESS  AND  THE  PEOPLE.  133 

from  the  fear  that  the  representatives  of  the  Republican 
voters  in  convention  might  disregard  the  will  of  the  people. 
The  number  of  those  who  carried  their  opposition  to  Mr. 
Elaine  to  such  length  constituted  but  a  small  fraction  of  the 
convention,  and  represented  an  altogether  insignificant  frac- 
tion of  the  Republican  party.  The  nominee  of  the  conven- 
tion will  have  the  support  of  the  whole  party ;  and  now, 
with  such  a  candidate  claiming  their  suffrages,  it  will  be  im- 
possible for  any  portion  of  the  people  to  be  indifferent. 
Those  on  whom  the  party  ties  sit  lightly,  and  those  who 
ordinarily  neglect  the  privileges  of  suffrage,  will  be  drawn 
to  the  support  of  Elaine  by  the  irresistible  attraction  of  his 
strong  personality  and  by  the  conviction  which  none  can 
escape,  that  of  all  our  public  men  he  is  pre-eminently  fit  for 
the  office  of  President  of  the  United  States.  The  conven- 
tion could  not  have  made  a  nomination  which  would  have 
been  as  acceptable  to  the  Republican  masses  or  which  would 
have  made  its  success  in  November  nearly  as  certain  or  as 
easy  as  it  will  now  be.  The  nomination  of  John  A.  Logan 
for  Vice-president  rounds  out  to  grand  proportions  the  ticket 
so  grandly  led  by  Elaine.  Patriot,  Congressman,  soldier, 
senator,  and  always  bold,  brave,  and  aggressive,  John  A. 
Logan's  name  is  inseparably  associated  with  the  history  of 
the  heroic  period  of  the  Republican  party,  and  his  appear- 
ance at  the  front  of  the  campaign  of  1884  will  be  a  bugle 
call  to  the  impulses  which  found  their  fruitage  in  a  recon- 
structed Union  and  an  emancipated  Republic.  It  is  a  happy 
circumstance  and  one  full  of  good  omen  that  the  two  States 
which  put  forth  the  ticket  which  lifted  the  Republican  party 
to  favor  in  1860  are  again  to  the  front  in  1884,  with  the 


134  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

order  of  honors  reversed,  it  is  true,  but  a  combination  worthy 
in  all  true  senses  of  the  succession  of  Lincoln  and  Hamlin. 
PHILADELPIA  Inquirer:  The  contest  was  one  which  was 
distinctly  drawn  between  the  people  on  one  side  and  the 
federal  office-holders  upon  the  other.  The  people  won,  the 
office-holders  lost,  and  the  entire  host  of  the  postmasters, 
tide-waiters,  and  gaugers  were  sent  to  the  rear.  The  victory 
was  a  double  one  inasmuch  as  it  not  only  placed  in  nomination 
the  most  popular  leader  of  the  rank  and  file  of  the  Repub- 
lican party,  but  that  it  did  not  place  in  nomination  one  whose 
nomination  would  have  been  synonymous  with  irretrievable 
disaster.  The  country,  and  especially  the  Republican  party, 
has  reason  to  congratulate  itself  not  only  upon  the  success 
of  Mr.  Elaine,  but  as  well  upon  the  defeat  of  Mr.  Arthur, 
whose  candidacy  represented  all  that  was  repellent  to  sin- 
cere, patriotic  Republicans.  His  supporters  were  chiefly 
federal  office-holders,  the  major  part  of  them  representing 
those  "rotten  boroughs"  of  the  South  without  a  single  elec- 
toral vote,  which  claimed  like  representation  with  the  great 
Republican  States  of  the  North  from  which  are  to  come  all 
the  electoral  votes  for  the  Republican  ticket.  Can  Mr.  Elaine 
be  elected  ?  Yes,  if  any  Republican  can.  The  popular  enthu- 
siasm which  his  name  evokes  proves  that  he  can  carry  New 
York  and  Ohio,  the  crucial  States,  and  he  is  probably  the 
one  Republican  leader  who,  being  nominated,  could  be  elected 
without  the  vote  of  New  York.  There  were  enough  doubt- 
ful States  before  the  convention  without  New  York.  They 
are  so  few  now  as  to  make  the  vote  of  New  York  no  longer 
necessary.  The  status  of  the  States  of  the  Pacific  Slope 
and  of  the  South-west,  which  were  all  doubtful,  are  now  fill 


THE  PRESS  AND  THE  PEOPLE.  135 

certain  for  Elaine  and  victory.  His  is  a  name  to  win  with. 
The  campaign  will  be  a  crusade ;  the  election  a  triumphal 
march  of  the  first  choice  of  the  people  to  the  Presidency  of 
the  great  Republic. 

PROVIDENCE  Star:  The  announcement  of  the  nomination 
of  James  G.  Elaine  on  the  fourth  ballot  at  Chicago,  yester- 
day afternoon,  was  received  with  more  enthusiastic  demon- 
stration of  joy  than  would  have  been  manifested  upon  the 
success  of  either  of  the  other  candidates,  and  to-day  the 
country  enters  upon  a  presidential  campaign  which  will  be 
memorable  in  the  political  history  of  the  Nation  for  the 
aggressive  vigor  with  which  it  will  be  prosecuted  by  the  Re- 
publicans. The  ticket  nominated  at  Chicago  yesterday  must 
be  elected.  We  have  thought  that  it  would  be  easy  to  nomi- 
nate some  other  candidate  on  a  conviction  that  some  one 
else,  against  whom  less  animosity  has  been  aroused,  might 
more  easily  secure  the  electoral  vote  of  certain  doubtful 
States ;  but  the  National  Convention,  representing  the  Re- 
publican voters  of  the  whole  country,  has  decided  differently, 
and  we  hold  it  now  to  be  the  duty  of  every  man  who  believes 
that  the  great  principles  of  the  Republican  party  ought  to 
triumph  to  fall  into  line  and  give  the  ticket  the  most  hearty 
and  effective  support  in  his  power. 

ST.  Louis  Call:  Our  candidate  is  "  the  tattooed  man." 
So  his  calumniators  call  him ;  so  will  his  opponents  in  this 
campaign  call  him;  so  will  we  call  him.  When,  in  the 
sixteenth  century,  the  people  of  Holland,  oppressed  by 
Spanish  tyranny,  sought  of  the  Princess  Margaret  an  ame- 
lioration of  their  condition,  they  were  called  by  the  premier 
at  the  Palace,  Geux  (Beggars).  Stung  by  the  reproach,  but 


136  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

glorying  in  their  cause,  the  people  took  up  the  name.  "  Long 
live  the  Guex!"  they  cried.  Almost  ere  the  sun  had  set 
the  name  became  the  password  of  liberty,  the  battle-cry  of 
freedom,  the  terror  of  the  oppressors,  and  the  "  Guex " 
threw  off  and  trampled  on  the  Spanish  yoke.  They  have 
called  him  "  the  tattooed  man."  So  let  it  be  ;  the  word  of 
reproach  shall  be  a  word  of  honor.  The  word  of  envy 
shall  be  a  title  of  glory.  He  is  a  tattooed  man.  The 
wounds  of  the  fore  front  of  every  battle  for  the  people's 
rights  during  the  last  quarter  of  our  century  have  left  their 
marks  upon  him.  He  is  tattooed  with  every  thing  that  is 
highest  and  noblest  and  dearest  in  our  history.  The  pres- 
ervation of  the  union  of  the  States,  the  redemption  of  na- 
tional credit,  the  defeat  of  the  rebels  in  war,  and  the  more 
dangerous  traitors  in  peace — with  all  these  is  this  leader 
tattooed.  Tattooed  with  this,  and  more,  tattooed  with  a 
genius  that  is  marvelous;  tattooed  with  a  magnificence  as 
a  leader,  with  generosity  as  an  opponent,  with  wisdom  as  a 
statesman ;  tattooed  with  a  list  of  deeds  in  public  life  that 
in  spite  of  calumny  mark  him  a  great,  true,  noble  man. 

ST.  Louis  Globe-Democrat:  Yesterday  Mr.  Elaine  was 
simply  an  individual  to  be  passed  upon  for  a  certain  use  arid 
object;  to-day  he  .stands  not  for  himself  any  longer,  but  for 
the  heroic  and  potent  organization  that  has  declared  him  to 
be  its  leader  of  leaders  and  its  brightest  champion.  His 
personality  has  ceased  to  be  a  question  for  Republicans  to 
dispute  about  or  to  deal  with  otherwise  than  as  the  verdict 
in  his  favor  requires.  He  passed  the  sort  of  scrutiny  that 
is  decisive  and  complete,  and  he  is  the  embodiment  now  of 
those  beliefs  and  hopes,  those  doctrines  and  purposes,  by 


THE  PRESS  AND  THE  PEOPLE.  137 

virtue  of  which  the  party  has  achieved  all  its  glories  in  the 
past,  and  upon  which  depend  all  its  chances  of  prolonged 
existence  and  usefulness.  There  can  be  no  difference  and  no 
ground  of  controversy  about  Republican  principles  nor  about 
the  desirability  of  vindicating  and  maintaining  them.  The 
fate  of  those  principles  is  bound  up  with  the  fortune  which 
shall  come  to  the  man  who  has  been  selected  to  specify  them 
and  to  hold  the  position  of  foremost  honor  in  the  great  im- 
pending struggle  for  their  continued  application  to  the  affairs 
of  the  government  and  the  interests  of  the  people.  There 
is  no  room,  therefore,  for  any  thing  but  loyalty  and  good 
faith,  and  no  time  to  be  wasted  in  regrets,  or  grumbling,  or 
lukewarmness.  There  seemed  to  us  to  be  reasons  why  some 
other  man  would  have  proved  stronger,  partially  in  doubtful 
and  vital  localities,  but  we  must  have  judged  mistakenly. 
It  is  certain,  at  least,  that  the  sober,  average,  conclusive 
opinion  of  the  Republican  party  is  not  only  that  he  is  the 
most  fit  and  deserving  man,  all  things  considered,  who  could 
be  put  into  the  field,  but  that  he  can  be  and  will  be  elected. 
He  owes  his  nomination  to  a  convention  representing  the 
best  thought  and  feeling,  aspiration  and  conscience,  of  the 
American  people,  and  the  verdict  of  such  a  body,  rendered 
in  tones  so  emphatic  and  so  enthusiastic,  is  not  to  be  criti- 
cised or  sulked  over  or  appealed  from.  The  obligation  of 
all  Republicans,  whatever  may  have  been  their  views  in  the 
contest  just  closed,  is  plain  and  definite,  and  that  is  to  ac- 
cept the  action  of  the  convention  in  a  cheerful  spirit  and 
with  a  hearty  and  determined  purpose  to  carry  the  old  flag 
again  to  victory  over  the  obstinate  and  pestilent  influences 
of  the  party  that  lies  eagerly  in  wait  for  a  chance  to  change, 


138     LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

undo,  and  dishonor,  as  far  as  possible,  the  wonderful  story 
of  the  last  twenty-five  years  of  national  progress.  There  is 
no  room  to  claim  that  Mr.  Elaine's  selection  was  the  result 
of  a  sudden  impulse,  or  a  mere  stroke  of  good  luck. 

WASHINGTON  Republican :  "  As  you  are  the  nominee  of 
the  Republican  party  you  will  have  my  earnest  and  cordial 
support." — Chester  A.  Arthur.  These  magnanimous  and  no- 
ble words,  uttered  by  President  Arthur  to  James  G.  Elaine 
by  telegram  to  Augusta  immediately  after  the  news  had  ar- 
rived that  the  latter  had  defeated  the  former  for  the  presi- 
dential nomination,  express  the  sentiments  which  should 
inspire  every  Republican  from  this  day  to  the  election  in 
November.  The  question  is  not  one  of  men,  but  of  measures, 
not  a  personal  issue,  but  one  of  policy.  Shall  the  Republican 
party,  with  its  principles  of  free  speech,  individual  sovereignty, 
protection  of  home  and  industry,  and  the  laboring  man,  gov- 
ern the  nation  from  1885  to  1889,  or  shall  the  Bourbon  De- 
mocracy dominate  the  country,  suppressing  freedom  and  free 
utterances,  trampling  upon  individuals,  submitting  to  the  rule 
of  a  few  arrogant  and  antiquated  negro-haters,  and  sacrificing 
the  diversified  occupations  and  the  comfort  and  prosperity  of 
the  American  workmen  to  give  profits  to  the  English,  French, 
and  German  manufacturers  who  employ  only  pauper  workmen 
and  pay  them  only  starvation  wages  ?  Before  this  issue  men 
are  nothing,  principles  are  every  thing.  President  Arthur, 
known  to  be  wise,  considerate,  patriotic,  sure  of  the  electoral 
vote  of  New  York,  would  have  been  the  best  candidate.  No 
doubt  would  for  a  moment  have  been  felt  concerning  his  elec- 
tion. But  James  G.  Elaine  has  been  fairly  nominated.  The 
supreme  duty  of  every  patriot  is  to  labor  for  his  election. 


THE  PRESS  AND  THE  PEOPLE.  139 

Magnetism  and  enthusiasm  will  not  do  the  work.  But  such 
loyalty  to  the  party  as  President  Arthur  has  manifested, 
followed  by  earnest  and  cordial  labor,  will  give  success. 
There  is  no  excuse  for  bolting.  The  Independents  who 
voted  for  Edmunds  could  have  nominated  Arthur  instead  of 
Elaine.  They  preferred  the  latter,  and  nominated  him  by 
their  persistency.  If  any  men  are  bound  to  support  Mr. 
Elaine,  George  William  Curtis,  Andrew  D.  White,  Theodore 
D.  Roosevelt  are  thus  committed,  for  to  them  he  owes  his 
nomination  in  a  fair  convention.  Let  them  now  rally 
grandly  and  nobly  to  his  support,  and  give  him  the  victory. 
President  Arthur  has  shown  his  self-sacrifice  and  devotion 
to  the  party  of  freedom  and  progress.  Let  these  pure  and 
heroic  idealists,  proud  of  their  defeat  of  Clayton  and  their 
nomination  of  Elaine,  throw  their  souls  into  the  great  con- 
test before  the  people  and  give  victory  in  November  to  the 
ticket  of  Elaine  and  Logan. 

PORTLAND  Oregonian:  When  great  men  find  themselves 
in  the  midst  of  their  greatest  responsibilities  they  always 
develop  their  greatest  wisdom.  This  is  axiomatically  true, 
and  this  is  what  will  take  Mr.  Elaine  out  of  and  above  the 
faults  we  have  found  in  him.  This  is  the  hope ;  at  least,  our 
belief.  The  men  who  look  for  an  overturning  jingo  policy,  as 
some  of  Mr.  Elaine's  acts  in  the  past  would  seem  to  indicate, 
will  find  themselves  most  sadly  disappointed.  Elaine  is  the 
choice  of  the  convention  and  of  the  people.  Let  us  look  at 
his  strength  as  it  appears  after  this  grand  display  at  Chicago. 
He  is  the  prime  representative  of  what  is  possible  to  a  man 
in  this  country  who  has  the  greatness  to  harbor  great  ambi- 
tions and  brains  to  sustain  himself  at  every  step  upwards. 


140  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

Two  previous  conventions  have  said  to  him  his  time  had  not 
come,  and  he  has  by  his  persistent  will  said  to  the  country, 
"  My  time  will  come."  It  has  come,  and  he  will  be  elected. 
The  average  voter,  Republican  or  Democrat,  regards  him  as 
already  made  President,  waiting  only  the  formalities  of  No- 
vember. Oregon  is  delighted  at  the  selection. 

SAN  FRANCISCO  Chronicle :  Elaine  is  the  man  who  as  Pres- 
ident will  do  more  to  make  this  country  and  its  citizens  re- 
spected than  has  ever  been  done  since  the  foundation  of  the 
government.  Unless  we  much  mistake  his  mettle,  with  this 
man  at  the  helm  we  shall  have  no  slipshod,  shilly-shally, 
back-do wn-and-s wallow-insult  foreign  policy.  We  count  upon 
his  election  as  an  event  as  sure  as  any  thing  in  the  future 
can  be.  As  for  this  coast,  every  Pacific  State  will  cast  its 
vote,  for  Elaine  and  Logan. 

SAN  FRANCISCO  Bulletin :  The  whole  atmosphere  of  Chi- 
cago has  been  Elaine.  The  platform  that  was  adopted  be- 
fore the  nomination  was  made  was  Elaine  all  over.  It 
would  have  been  perfectly  ridiculous  to  have  placed  any 
other  candidate  upon  it.  We  want  a  strong  government. 
Mr.  Elaine  will  give  it  to  us.  Continued  prosperity  can  not 
be  secured  without  protection.  Mr.  Elaine  is  one  of  the 
oldest  exponents  of  the  system.  A  new  and  insidious  form 
of  slavery  in  the  form  of  coolie  contract  labor  threatens  us. 
Mr.  Elaine  understands  the  question  in  all  its  details.  We 
believe  that  Elaine  will  be  elected.  We  can  assume  before- 
hand that  his  administration  will  be  brilliant  and  success- 
ful. His  nomination  will  excite  the  greatest  joy  all  over 
the  country. 

OHIO  State  Journal :  The  selection  of  Mr.  Elaine  at  Chi- 


THE  PRESS  AND  THE  PEOPLE.  141 

cago  as  the  standard-bearer  of  his  party  was  born  in  enthu- 
siasm and  consummated  in  a  grand  climax  of  popular  de- 
mand. This  sentiment  among  the  people  was  very  strong 
months  ago.  It  never  abated,  but  kept  on  growing  till  it 
was  able  to  overcome  the  field  in  the  National  Convention. 
There  was  at  no  time  a  stampede  for  Blaine.  He  led  on 
the  first  ballot,  and  continued  to  climb  up  until  he  had  two- 
thirds  of  the  whole  number  of  votes  on  the  fourth  ballot. 
He  never  lost  the  votes  that  once  came  to  him,  but  by  a 
steady  pull  attained  the  nomination  in  the  midst  of  the  great- 
est demonstration  ever  held  on  the  continent.  The  vast 
assemblage  of  ten  thousand  people  went  wild  when  it  knew 
that  he  was  the  winner  in  a  race  that  had  been  so  fair  and 
creditable.  The  end  reached  is  not  only  satisfactory,  but 
what  is  better,  it  has  been  reached  in  a  most  satisfactory 
way.  There  was  no  accident  about  the  selection,  nor  was  it 
that  of  a  man  with  a  "record  of  obscurity,"  as  George 
William  Curtis  called  it. 

General  Logan's  career  has  been  a  brilliant  one  alike  in 
military  and  in  civil  life.  Commanding  a  division  under 
Grant  in  the  siege  of  Vicksburg,  and  later  the  Fifteenth 
Army  Corps,  and,  on  the  death  of  McPherson,  the  Army  of 
the  Tennessee,  he  distinguished  himself  on  many  a  battle- 
field by  his  dash  and  military  skill.  The  surviving  soldiers 
of  the  war  know  General  Logan,  and  his  name  will  revive 
the  glorious  memories  of  many  a  well-fought  field.  It  will 
also  kindle  the  enthusiasm  of  the  veterans  wherever  they  are 
found,  and  be  a  watchword  of  victory  around  the  Republi- 
can camp-fires  in  the  political  conflict  now  impending. 
Probably  no  two  men  could  have  been  associated  together 


142  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

who  combine  in  themselves  such  varied  and  powerful  ele- 
ments of  personal  popularity  as  James  G.  Elaine  and  John 
A.  Logan.  But  they  are  not  only  popular  men — they  are 
men  of  brains,  men  of  public  experience,  men  whom  the 
Democratic  party  may  be  challenged  to  match.  The  ticket 
and  the  platform  are  invincible. 

HARTFORD  Courant :  Mr.  Elaine  has  been  a  conspicuous 
party  leader  for  twenty  years ;  he  has  taken  part  in  all  the 
great  civil  struggles  of  the  period;  he  has  won  his  way  to 
the  front  rank  of  leadership  by  native  ability  and  splendid 
acquirements ;  he  has  made  hosts  of  devoted  friends,  resem- 
bling Henry  Clay  in  the  respect  of  an  idolizing  personal  fol- 
lowing, and  he  has  made  bitter  personal  enemies;  but  that 
he  is  the  choice  of  a  majority  of  the  Republican  party  there 
is  no  room  for  doubt,  and  the  enthusiasm  for  him  carried 
him  to  his  triumph.  With  his  great  capacities,  Mr.  Elaine 
has  faults  plain  to  see,  but  the  arguments  against  Mr. 
Elaine's  candidacy  are  answered  by  the  tremendous  enthu- 
siasm that  has  borne  him  to  his  position.  We  have  not  to 
deal  with  an  unknown  man  of  an  unknown  cause. 

COLUMBUS  Dispatch :  The  platform  of  the  National  Re- 
publican Convention  is  an  avowal  of  Republican  doctrine 
which  can  not  fail  to  please  the  party.  It  is  frank  and  per- 
spicuous on  every  point  that  it  touches.  When  there  is 
anything  to  be  said  it  is  put  clearly  and  forcibly,  without 
circumlocution  or  any  apparent  desire  to  hide  intentions  be- 
hind a  specious  verbiage.  There  is  no  hedging  in  the  tariff 
plank.  It  denounces  the  theory  of  tariff  "  for  revenue  only," 
and  demands  the  imposition  of  such  duties  on  foreign  im- 
ports as  shall  afford  security  to  our  diversified  industries 


THE  PRESS  AND  THE  PEOPLE.  143 

and  protection  to  the  rights  and  wages  of  the  laborers,  and 
pledges  the  party  to  correct  the  inequalities  of  the  tariff 
and  to  reduce  the  surplus  by  such  methods  as  shall  relieve 
the  taxpayer  without  injury  to  the  laborer.  The  wool  in- 
dustry receives  its  proper  recognition  and  a  promise  of  a 
readjustment  of  duties  that  will  give  it  full  and  adequate 
protection.  This  is  comprehensive  and  satisfactory.  It 
accurately  represents  the  position  of  the  Republican  party 
on  the  important  tariff  question.  It  recognizes  the  neces- 
sity of  caution  in  the  adjustment  of  duties,  and  repudiates 
the  idea  that  the  party,  when  it  has  made  a  false  step,  is 
self-willed  and  headstrong  to  such  an  extent  as  to  deny  its 
error  and  refuse  to  correct  it.  The  wool-tariff  clause  is  all 
that  the  men  engaged  in  the  industry  could  have  expected. 
The  clauses  against  the  importation  of  foreign  contract 
labor,  in  favor  of  national  aid  to  education,  and  against  .the 
acquisition  of  large  tracts  of  land  by  non-resident  aliens  are 
all  in  the  interest  of  the  citizens  in  poor  or  moderate  cir- 
cumstances; nor  are  they  hypocritical  bids  for  votes,  but 
honest  declarations  of  party  purpose.  It  is  for  the  people 
to  say  whether  these  purposes  shall  be  given  the  oppor- 
tunity of  fruition. 

TOLEDO  Telegram :  In  James  Gr.  Elaine  we  have  a  candi- 
date against  whom  every  kind  of  political  warfare  has  been 
exhausted.  He  has  been  assaulted  in  the  party  and  out  of 
it.  His  record  has  been  examined  with  the  microscope  and 
the  telescope.  The  worst  and  meanest  possible  to  say  of 
him  has  been  said.  There  is  nothing  new  which  the  most 
malignant  jackal  of  the  opposition  can  resurrect  from  the 
relics  of  the  past.  If  James  G.  Elaine  is  not  the  next 


144  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  BLA1NE  AND  LOGAN. 

President  of  the  United  States  it  will  be  because  the  Great 
Commoner  is  not  wanted.  This  time  we  have  neither  a 
giraffe  ticket  nor  a  dark-horse  ticket.  We  have  at  both 
ends  the  strongest  and  best  men  of  the  party — stronger 
than  any  other  combination  of  men  that  could  have  been 
made — James  G.  Elaine  and  John  A.  Logan.  We  are  con- 
tent beyond  words.  The  Republican  party  has  never  gone 
into  a  contest  better  equipped  for  victory.  It  has  the 
strongest  platform  ever  written  and  the  strongest  men  of  the 
party  to  stand  up  for  it.  The  air  is  magnetic  with  the 
thrill  of  triumph. 

OMAHA  Republican  :  The  people  have  triumphed.  Elaine 
has  triumphed,  and  in  the  victory  of  such  a  man  is  to  be 
found  the  gratification  of  a  Nation's  tribute  to  the  great 
heart,  the  noble  intellect,  and  the  pure,  devoted  life  of  a 
thorough  statesman.  Republicanism  is  born  again,  under 
the  leadership  of  the  best  exponent  of  our  national  progress, 
and  the  first  American  of  his  time ;  the  people  are  rallying 
to  a  new  victory.  Our  platform  is  as  bold  and  as  aggres- 
sive as  our  candidate.  No  prominent  man  in  the  United 
State  save  Elaine  could  stand  upon  that  platform  with  per- 
fect consistency. 

WHEELING  Intelligencer :  After  years  of  hopeless  combat 
with  an  opponent  physically  our  superior,  West  Virginia 
stands  at  the  masthead  of  a  new  era.  The  nomination  of 
James  G.  Elaine  for  President  will  complete  the  work  so 
happily  begun  within  our  own  borders,  and  the  mountain 
State  will  be  wrested  from  our  Bourbon  domination  and 
again  placed  where  she  belongs — in  the  ranks  of  the  Repub- 
lican States.  The  State  needs  the  moral  influence  of  that 


THE  PRESS  AND  THE  PEOPLE.  145 

position  more  than  the  Republican  party  needs  her  support. 
She  must  shake  off  the  shackles  and  move  on  to  the  march 
of  progress  politically  and  industrially.  Her  mines,  her  fac- 
tories, her  flocks,  and  her  workshops  need  the  fostering  care 
of  Republican  protection.  Her  children  need  the  enlighten- 
ment of  Republican  education,  the  State  needs  Elaine. 
The  Democrats  affect  to  ridicule  the  idea  of  Republican 
victory  in  West  Virginia.  So  did  they  affect  to  ridicule 
the  idea  of  the  election  of  Goff  to  Congress,  but  he  was 
elected,  and  just  as  easily,  just  as  surely,  can  we  redeem 
the  whole  State  with  the  prestige  Elaine  and  Logan  will 
give  us. 

CLEVELAND  Herald:  The  voice  of  the  Republican  people 
has  been  heard  and  heeded.  That  voice  has  been  ringing 
out  Elaine,  of  Maine.  The  convention's  roar  was  but  a  faint 
echo  of  the  people's  voice.  Not  the  convention,  but  the 
people  made  Elaine  the  nominee.  For  the  convention  to 
have  rejected  him  would  have  been  a  defiance  of  the  clearly 
expressed  wish  of  the  Republican  voters.  It  would  have 
been  at  once  a  blunder  and  a  crime.  Wild  as  was  the  en- 
thusiasm which  swept  that  great  assemblage  off  its  feet  at 
the  announcement  of  the  people's  favorite,  it  was  but  a  pub- 
lic indication  of  the  tremendous  wave  of  enthusiastic  energy 
whose  resistless  tide  will  carry  all  before  it  this  Fall  and 
bear  Elaine  in  triumph  into  the  White  House  next  March. 
His  history  as  a  public  man  is  that  of  the  Republican  party 
and  the  Nation.  He  is  a  typical  American.  It  would  have 
been  impossible  to  make  a  nomination  that  would  be  better 
received  in  Ohio,  or  that  would  exercise  a  stronger  influence 

for  good  on    the   fortunes  of  the   Republican  party  in  this 

10 


146  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

State  at  the  coming  elections.  In  Northern  Ohio,  especially, 
Elaine  is  the  popular  idol.  His  intimate  association  with 
Garfield,  and  the  part  he  bore  in  the  tfagic  events  of  the 
closing  months  of  the  martyred  President's  life  completely 
won  their  hearts.  He  became  the  natural  heir  to  the  affec- 
tion* they  bore  the  deeply-loved  and  cruelly-lost  Garfield. 
No  man  could  so  stir  the  hearts  of  the  people  of  Ohio,  par- 
ticularly in  the  Republican  strongholds,  and  bring  out  the 
Republican  vote  to  the  last  man,  as  James  G.  Elaine,  the 
personal  friend,  the  devoted  adherent,  the  political  other  self 
of  the  martyred  President,  James  A.  Garfield.  His  nomina- 
tion insures  a  sweeping  victory  in  October  and  a  crowning 
triumph  in  November. 

TOPEKA  Capital:  No  man  in  America  will  inspire  more 
zeal  and  a  greater  degree  of  enthusiasm  in  the  Republican 
party  than  he  who  yesterday  received  the  nomination  for 
the  Presidency.  There  is  something  so  American  about  the 
man.  The  masses  love  him.  He  has  grown  up  among  the 
people  a  conspicuous  specimen  of  healthy,  vigorous  man- 
hood. In  all  the  details  of  public  affairs  he  is  as  well 
equipped  as  any  man  now  living.  Mr.  Elaine  is  a  model 
American.  He  believes  that  the  people  of  the  United  States 
form  a  Nation ;  that  the  people  are  more  interested  in  their 
own  affairs  than  in  those  of  other  nations ;  that  we  are  capa- 
ble of  adopting  our  own  policies  and  protecting  our  own  in- 
terest. Springing  from  the  common  people,  he  knows  the 
wants  of  humble  homes.  He  is  a  man  of  the  Garfield  type. 
He  is  friendly,  social,  generous,  big-hearted,  manly,  and 
frank.  With  such  a  man  and  with  such  a  platform  the  Re- 
publican party  will  achieve  success. 


THE  PRESS  AND  THE  PEOPLE.  147 

PITTSBURGH  Commercial  Gazette :  In  thus  honoring  Elaine 
the  convention  has  done  an  act  which  will  meet  the  hearty 
approval  of  the  .great  body  of  Republicans  all  over  the 
country.  It  has  made  success  certain  beyond  the  possibility 
of  a  doubt,  and  will  infuse  a  vigor  and  spirit  into  the  cam- 
paign which  will  be  irresistible.  He  is  the  popular  leader  in 
the  country  to-day,  and  will  arouse  greater  enthusiasm,  in- 
spire a  higher  degree  of  confidence,  and  command  a  larger 
support  in  those  States  which  must  be  depended  on  for  Re- 
publican Electors,  than  any  other  man  who  could  have  been 
named.  Ohio,  Connecticut,  and  California  have  been  taken 
at  once  out  of  the  list  of  doubtful  States.  New  York  and 
Indiana  will  rally  to  the  standard  of  Elaine  and  Logan  with 
an  alacrity  and  enthusiasm  which  will  take  the  sting  from 
any  latent  opposition  within  the  party.  The  prestige  of  his 
name  will  give  the  party  a  fighting  chance  in  Virginia,  West 
Virginia,  and  Florida,  and  if  proper  efforts  are  made  in  the 
South,  two  or  three  States  rated  as  "  solid "  may  be  cap- 
tured. The  nomination  of  General  Logan  for  second  place  is 
one  which  will  commend  itself  to  general  approval.  It  is  a 
recognition  of  the  soldier  element,  which  will  be  fully  ap- 
proved and  balance  the  geographical  claims  of  the  two  great 
sections  with  satisfactory  precision. 

PITTSBURGH  Dispatch :  Viewing  the  matter  solely  with  re- 
lation to  the  November  verdict,  it  is  scarcely  to  be  ques- 
tioned that  Elaine's  nomination  will  draw  all  of  force  and 
fire  there  is  in  the  Republican  party.  It  has  been  charged 
that  he  must  assume  the  defensive  on  account  of  past  mis- 
takes ;•  but  while  he  has,  like  all  other  public  men,  some  of 
these  to  his  account,  it  will  be  well  to  bear  in  mind  that 


148  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

those  who  have  attacked  Mr.  Elaine  have  generally  caught 
a  Tartar.  There  is  positively  nothing  in  the  intimation  that 
the  business  interests  of  the  country  fear  him.  On  the  con- 
trary, in  so  far  as  he  is  more  progressive  and  active  than 
his  contemporaries,  the  business  interests  may  fairly  expect 
that  under  his  administration  the  development  of  the  great 
natural  resources  of  the  country  would  go  on  with  quickened 
energy.  The  American  people  will  all  the  time  prefer  a  live 
man  working  within  fair  and  honest  limitation  to  an  aristo- 
cratic figure-head  or  an  intellectual  mummy. 

INDIANAPOLIS  Times :  In  the  nominees  of  the  Chicago  Con- 
vention the  country  can  repose  confidence.  Their  records 
are  well  known.  In  Congress,  James  G.  Elaine  has  given 
his  high  talents  and  his  great  eloquence  in  the  support  and 
defense  of  the  principles  of  the  party.  He  has  been  fore- 
most in  every  encounter.  His  talents,  his  genius,  and  his 
powers  have  so  impressed  themselves  upon  the  party,  that 
notwithstanding  two  defeats  that  would  have  crushed  a  man 
of  smaller  caliber,  he  has  again  entered  the  field  and  wrested 
the  victory  even  from  a  President  whose  course  has  been  so 
universally  commended.  He  was  the  choice  of  a  majority 
of  the  Republicans  of  Indiana,  and  the  action  of  its  dele- 
gates in  casting  its  united  vote  for  him  will  be  ratified  in 
November. 

MINNEAPOLIS  Journal:  The  prophecy  of  the  early  morn- 
ing was  fulfilled  ere  the  afternoon  had  grown  old.  James 
G.  Elaine,  of  Maine,  was  nominated  on  the  fourth  ballot. 
The  nomination  creates  unbounded  enthusiasm.  Elaine  will 
make  a  roaring,  hip-hip-hurrah  campaign,  and  will  doubtless 
be  elected  over  any  man  the  Democrats  can  put  up.  There 


THE  PRESS  AND  THE  PEOPLE.  149 

is  one  advantage  this  time — we  don't  have  to  explain  who 
our  candidate  is.  Everybody  knows  him.  His  record  is 
familiar  to  all,  and  upon  it  he  must  stand  or  fall.  That  he 
will  stand  by  a  large  majority  and  be  our  next  President  are 
the  indications  of  the  hour. 

HARRISBURG  Telegraph :  A  united  North  will  greet  the 
people's  choice.  Elaine,  of  Maine,  will  be  our  next  Presi- 
dent. Defeated  and  dismayed,  his  detractors  will  spit  their 
venom,  but  the  people  will  properly  answer  the  scandal  by 
their  enthusiastic  indorsement.  The  Plumed  Knight  will 
lead  his  hosts  to  assured  victory.  The  cheer  that  greeted 
his  nomination  will  be  continued  until  the  4th  of  March, 
1885. 

BALTIMORE  American :  Elaine  is  the  choice  of  the  people. 
His  nomination  is  a  victory  of  the  people  over  the  politicians. 
A  great  enthusiasm  formed  itself  spontaneously  in  the  hearts 
of  Republicans,  and  burst  like  a  huge  wave  over  the  petty 
dykes  that  hostile  factions  and  official  discipline  had  built 
up  against  it.  Elaine  has  been  the  object  of  the  keen  attacks 
of  enemies  without  and  within  the  party.  He  has  had  for  years 
to  meet  calumny  and  detraction,  and  to  see  his  good  work 
evil  spoken  of.  Base  motives  have  been  ascribed  by  malice 
to  his  noblest  actions.  His  genius  has  been  underrated,  his 
popularity  underestimated,  and  yet  there  is  something  about 
the  man  that  makes  the  people  love  him.  Twice  had  the 
popular  voice  called  him  to  the  nomination,  and  twice  had 
the  politicians  thwarted  its  will.  But  now  the  voters  rose 
with  a  power  not  to  be  withstood,  and  made  him  their  can- 
didate. His  nomination  unites  the  party  as  none  other  could. 
The  third-term  party,  defeated  four  years  ago,  now  disappears. 


150  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

Its  leaders  are  now  Elaine  men.  Not  since  Grant's  first  term 
has  the  Republican  party  been  so  united  as  now.  Not  since 
Lincoln's  second  term  has  any  leader  been  so  beloved.  The 
value  of  this  personal  popularity  can  hardly  be  overrated,  in 
the  close  States.  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  and  New 
Jersey  have  sometimes  suffered  themselves  to  go  Democratic, 
but  by  default.  This  has  always  happened  at  periods  of  dis- 
content with  the  Republican  party  management.  But  on  a  full 
vote  these  States  are  Republican.  Elaine's  popularity  will 
bring  out  a  fuller  party  vote  than  could  have  been  brought  out 
by  any  other  leader.  It  has  been  given  to  only  a  few  Ameri- 
cans to  excite  affection  of  this  sort.  Andrew  Jackson,  Henry 
Clay,  and  Abraham  Lincoln  are  among  the  few  who  have  en- 
joyed public  esteem  and  love  as  James  G.  Elaine  does.  The 
campaign  of  calumny  and  abuse  has  already  begun.  The  ashes 
of  old  accusations  will  be  raked  over  in  the  hope  of  kindling 
anew  the  fires  of  persecution  and  slander.  But  this  will  avail 
nothing.  Envenomed  slander  did  its  worst  against  Garfield, 
but  it  did  not  hurt  him.  It  can  not  hurt  Elaine. 

•  ALBANY  Evening  Journal:  As  we  write  the  electric  wires 
are  pulsating  with  tidings  which  thrill  the  hearts  of  Repub- 
licans throughout  the  land.  The  Republican  party,  invincible 
as  the  exponent  of  progressive  ideas  and  courageous  actions, 
will  be  worthily  led  by  the  man  whom  it  has  honored  with 
its  approval  this  day.  All  citizens  who  desire  that  this 
country  shall  stand  before  the  world  as  a  Nation,  great  and 
benignant  in  its  might,  as  the  robust  type  of  successful 
government  by  and  for  the  people,  will  heartily  approve  the 
nomination  of  the  illustrious  statesman  from  Maine.  If  the 
Republican  party  has  yet  a  mission  to  fulfill,  it  has  shown 


THE  PRESS  AND  THE  PEOPLE.  151 

wisdom  in  the  selection  of  a  candidate  who  has  been  un- 
swerving in  obedience  to  its  decisions  and  powerful  in  cham- 
pionship of  its  settled  policies.  If  there  is  need  of  honesty, 
vigor,  leadership,  and  capacity  in  the  chief  executive,  those 
qualities  will  be  supplied  in  the  triumphal  election  of  that 
candidate  to  the  office  of  President. 

ILLINOIS  State  Journal:  James  G.  Elaine  will  be  the  next 
President  of  the  United  States.  This  is  the  will  of  the  Re- 
public, and  this  foregone  conclusion  rests  in  the  fact  that  no 
other  man  lies  so  near  the  hearts  of  the  American  people  as 
the  Maine  statesman.  His  devotion  to  the  whole  body  of 
Republican  doctrines  is  as  unimpeachable  as  was  that  of 
either  of  our  immortal  martyr  Presidents,  and  to  this  fealty 
he  adds  unequaled  courage,  discretion,  penetration,  and  de- 
cision. What  other  men  require  weeks  or  months  to  under- 
stand he  comprehends  at  a  glance.  If  now  the  Democrats 
nominate  Tilden,  it  will  simply  be  a  contest  between  a  pigmy 
and  a  giant  athlete,  and  nature  decides  all  such  contests. 

MILWAUKEE  Sentinel:  The  Republican  Convention  nomi- 
nated James  Gr.  Elaine  yesterday  as  its  candidate  for  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States.  On  the  fourth  ballot  he  received 
a  clear  majority  over  all,  and  his  nomination  was  made  unani- 
mous. It  is  known  the  Sentinel  did  not  favor  the  nomination 
of  Mr.  Elaine,  for  the  reason  that  it  believed  there  were  sev- 
eral other  gentlemen  urged  as  candidates  equally  well  qualified 
and  more  available,  but  in  the  selection  of  candidates  the  ma- 
jority has  the  right  to  command,  and  party  organization  is  un- 
practicable  when  that  right  is  denied.  It  is  an  undoubted  fact 
that  the  news  of  Mr.  Elaine's  nomination  will  give  greater 
satisfaction  to  a  majority  of  the  party  than  would  that  of  any 


152          LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

other  man  who  was  proposed  as  a  candidate,  and  that  there 
are  a  large  number  of  Republicans  who  opposed  him  in  the 
recent  contest  solely  because  they  questioned  his  availability, 
who  would  be  as  sincerely  gratified  by  his  election  to  the 
office  of  President  as  the  most  earnest  advocates  of  his  nomi- 
nation. 

DEsMoiNES  Register:  The  convention  has  nobly  answered 
the  popular  demand  of  a  strong,  magnetic  candidate,  and  the 
enthusiasm  of  this  campaign  will  exceed  that  of  1880,  with 
an  equally  glorious  result. 

EX-GOVERNOR  CHAS.  FOSTER:  For  once  has  a  great  con- 
vention registered  with  fidelity  the  will  of  the  great  mass 
of  the  people.  While  doubt  may  have  existed  in  the  minds 
of  some  as  to  the  propriety  of  Mr.  Elaine's  nomination,  it  is 
apparent  he  is  the  choice  of  four-fifths  of  the  people  of  the 
land.  Out  of  office,  with  no  patronage  at  his  command,  and 
without  perhaps  his  own  consent,  he  was  nominated  by  a 
spontaneity  almost  unparalleled  in  the  history  of  the  country. 

SENATOR  HARRISON  :  I  am  highly  pleased  with  the  nomi- 
nations. Elaine  has  great  elements  of  strength;  he  is  strong 
with  the  Irish,  and  will  carry  the  Pacific  Slope,  New  York, 
and  Indiana.  The  scandalous  stories  against  him  are  not 
believed.  His  own  State  approved  of  him,  and  Garfield  gave 
him  his  confidence  in  the  most  conspicuous  manner  possible. 
His  foreign  policy  is  approved  by  every  one,  conceding  that 
we  ought  to  come  in  closer  relations  with  the  States  of  South 
America,  and  have  some  of  that  immense  trade  which  Eng- 
land now  enjoys.  It  was  nonsense  to  think  he  would  involve 
us  in  war,  and  the  business  of  the  country  has  nothing  to 
fear  from  him.  He  is  sound  on  all  great  economic  questions. 


THE  PRESS  AND  THE  PEOPLE.  153 

Of  similar  literature,  the  compiler  of  this  chapter  has 
enough  in  his  possession  to  make  a  book  of  probably  3,000 
pages.  The  preceding  excerpts  are  presented  to  indicate  the 
dominant  sentiment  from  Maine  to  California,  and  additions 
of  the  same  tenor  can  not  strengthen  the  exhibit.  One  of  the 
most  pathetic  expressions  is  embodied  in  the  following  tele- 
gram : 

CLEVELAND,  June  8th. 
Hon.  JAS.  G.  ELAINE,  Augusta: 

Our  household  joins  in  one  great  thanksgiving.  From  the 
quiet  of  our  home  we  send  the  most  earnest  wish  that  through  the 
turbulent  months  to  follow,  and  in  the  day  of  victory,  you  may  be 
guarded  and  kept.  LUCRETIA  R.  GARFIELD. 

How  suggestive  are  these  simple  words,  few  in  number, 
but  deep  in  their  significance.  They  take  us  back  to  the 
second  of  July,  1881,  when  President  Garfield  was  murder- 
ously assaulted  at  the  National  Capital,  and  they  go  with 
us  through  that  whole  pitiful  detail  of  watching  and  waiting 
for  the  grim  messenger  till  he  came  for  the  good  President, 
the  devoted  husband,  the  loving  father,  the  full  embodiment 
of  the  noblest  work  of  God,  on  the  twentieth  of  September 
following.  And  although  the  faithful  wife  was  the  chief 
watcher  through  all  the  weary  days  and  nights  of  this  op- 
pressive sadness,  there  was  another  whose  faithfulness  was 
excelled  by  only  her  whose  heart  bled  for  the  wounds  and 
the  peril  of  her  husband.  That  other  watcher  was  the  man 
of  Maine.  His  sympathy  for,  and  devotion  to,  Garfield  en- 
deared him  to  the  people,  and  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at 
that  the  widow  of  the  man  by  whose  death  the  government 
was  bereaved  as  sorely  as  was  her  gentle  heart,  should  be 
among  the  first  to  offer  thanks  that  her  husband's  intimate 


154  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

friend  and  trusted  confidant  is  so  soon  to  succeed  him  in  the 
highest  seat  of  the  Nation. 

The  expression  of  the  press,  of  public  men  and  private 
citizens  of  his  own  party,  is  as  cordial  for  Elaine  as  it  was 
for  Garfield  in  1880,  with  this  addition — the  enthusiasm  of 
the  masses  is  infinitely  more  hearty.  Those  who  were  hope- 
lessly disappointed  at  Chicago  are  few,  and  they  go  off  upon 
the  inexpediency  of  the  nomination  simply  because  they  fear 
the  fearlessness  of  Elaine  in  a  great  national  campaign. 
Fearlessness  in  political  life  and  action  will  be  at  a  premium 
after  this  year,  especially  in  the  United  States.  It  will  be 
found  valuable  to  its  possessors.  The  Republican  party,  as 
a  whole  or  as  a  combination  of  various  parts,  has  never  b.een 
for  a  moment  superior  to  the  man  they  recognized  as  their 
leader  on  the  sixth  of  June,  at  Chicago.  It  is  true  that  his 
brilliancy,  his  prominence,  his  success,  have  excited  the  envy 
of  some  individuals  in  the  Republican  ranks,  and  this  is  per- 
haps natural;  that  is  to  say,  the  cause  is  so  great  that  prob- 
ably these  individuals  can  not  control  the  promptings  of 
jealousy ;  but  however  this  may  be,  it  is  very  certain  that 
they  are  not  strong  enough  to  harm  its  object.  The  paper 
pellets  showered  upon  him  by  a  little  junta  of  "  independ- 
ents," in  New  York,  fall  as  harmless  as  snow-flakes  upon  a 
hundred-ton  pile-driver;  and  it  is  predicted  that  for  every 
vote  he  loses  in  New  York,  from  the  beauocracy,  he  will 
gain  ten  from  the  bone  and  sinew.  It  will  be  found  out 
that  in  a  great  political  contest,  a  vote  scented  with  lavender 
counts  no  more  than  one  with  the  flavor  of  toil  upon  it,  and 
the  intelligent  toiler  knows  his  friend  in  James  G.  Elaine. 
He  knows  that  the  friend  of  the  people  must,  perforce,  be 


THE  PRESS  AND  THE  PEOPLE.  155 

the  people's  friend,  and  that  the  overwhelming  influence 
which  bore  upon  the  Chicago  Convention,  and  smashed  every 
anti-Elaine  movement — even  the  kid-glove  and  white  necktie 
cohorts — was  the  imperative  demand  of  the  people  for  the 
recognized  leadership  of  the  Plumed  Knight. 

It  is  unquestionable  that  the  convention  nominated  the 
man  who  is  strongest  with  the  people,  and  that  in  reality 
the  action  of  the  convention  was  simply  the  ratification  of 
the  people's  will.  It  is  unquestionable  that,  as  a  well-known 
writer  graphically  states  it,  the  convention  "  escaped  the 
colossal  foolishness  of  being  stampeded,  like  a  head  of  wild 
asses  of  the  desert,  into  a  nomination  which  would  surprise 
the  country,  and  would  dissolve  party  allegiance."  It  es- 
caped the  demoralization  of  the  nomination  of  an  obscure 
candidate,  and  brought  forward  a  nominee  whose  position, 
talent,  and  requirements  indicate  that  ability,  distinction,  and 
leadership  in  the  party  combine  in  a  formidable  recommenda- 
tion for  the  place  at  the  head  of  the  party. 

Weeks  before  the  Chicago  Convention  it  was  in  the  or- 
dinary conversation  of  intelligent  men  in  all  parts  of  the 
country,  that  Elaine  would  be  the  nominee.  Other  candi- 
dates had  their  friends,  who  were  faithful  in  claiming  high 
qualities  and  distinguished  statesmanship  for  those  preferred, 
but  they  were  not  self-confident,  as  were  the  friends  of 
Elaine ;  and  the  consciousness  that  the  statesman  of  the 
Lumber  State  was  by  a  large  majority  the  preference  of  the 
country  soon  took  possession  of  the  public  mind.  That  in 
a  large  degree  the  wish  was  father  to  this  consciousness, 
there  is  no  question,  but  the  public  press  was  not  backward 
in  coming  to  its  assistance  and  furnishing  an  intelligent  echo 


156  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

of  the  general  sentiment.  And  in  the  extracts  which  make 
up  a  goodly  portion  of  this  chapter,  the  press  echo  is  simply 
continued. 

A  point  worthy  of  more  than  passing  note  was  proved 
at  the  Chicago  Convention,  and  with  an  emphasis  which  de-" 
mands  some  patient  afterthought.  Had  the  nomination  of 
Elaine  depended  alone  upon  the  votes  of  delegates  from  the 
Republican  States,  there  would  have  been  no  contest.  The 
prize  would  have  been  his  by  an  overwhelming  majority  on 
the  first  ballot.  His  support  from  these  constituencies 
would  have  been  as  spontaneous  as  the  electric  flash  from 
the  surcharged  elements,  and  as  effective  in  shivering  all  op- 
posing forces.  The  strength  of  President  Arthur's  candi- 
dacy was  with  the  Southern  delegates  and  in  the  vast  pa- 
tronage of  the  administration ;  not  to  any  extent  in  the 
National  Republican  party.  Senator  Sherman  had  some 
strength  in  his  own  State;  General  Logan  carried  his  State 
delegation,  and  so  did  that  pure  Republican,  Hon.  Joseph 
R.  Hawley.  Senator  Edmunds  had  the  warm  support  of 
a  goodly  part  of  New  England  and  a  very  pretty  slice  of 
New  York — and  all  of  these  were  upon  a  better  basis  of 
support  than  the  following  of  President  Arthur.  Yet  Presi- 
dent Arthur  was  Elaine's  principal  rival,  and  he  was  readily 
beaten  by  the  man  who  had  nothing  to  promise,  nothing  to 
give,  and  who  has  from  the  first  despised  every  thing  like 
finesse  and  strategy  as  the  price  of  preferment. 

It  is  no  part  of  the  object  of  this  work  to  criticise  Re- 
publicans in  any  section  of  the  country,  but  we  have  desired 
to  show  in  a  few  words  how  completely  the  course  of 
Elaine's  friends  in  the  convention  was  and  is  justified  by  the 


THE  PRESS  AND  THE  PEOPLE.  157 

voice  of  Republican  voters ;  and  how  much  nobler  their 
action  proved  than  any  dark-horse  strategy  that  could  have 
been  desired,  or  any  action  that  would  have  thrust  upon  the 
people  a  candidate  they  did  not  want.  There  was  genuine 
bravery  at  Chicago,  and  it  was  shown  in  the  confident  and 
open  tactics  of  Mr.  Elaine's  supporters  after  a  style  which 
gives  the  nomination  great  distinction.  Says  Mr.  Samuel 
R.  Reed :  "  Not  only  does  the  action  of  the  convention  make 
the  leading  Republican  the  leader  of  this  campaign  and  the 
official  head  of  the  party,  but  it  will  have  a  lasting  moral 
effect  on  future  conventions  by  killing  the  base  doctrine 
that  the  national  convention  is  a  slaughter-house  for  the 
leaders  of  the  party,  and  that  he  who  is  most  popular  is  the 
most  unlikely  to  be  nominated.  It  lays  out  for  good  the 
mean  assumption  that  the  convention  is  the  place  for  jockey- 
ing tactics  to  defeat  the  will  of  the  people  by  the  ( field '  of 
weaklings  combining  to  beat  the  popular  leader.  The  great 
principal  of  natural  selection  and  the  survival  of  the  fittest 
has  ruled  the  event.  The  strongest  leader  is  put  in  the 
lead.  The  party  is  marshaled  in  the  natural  order  for  the 
campaign.  Future  conventions  will  be  braced  up  by  this 
precedent  in  the  rule  that  the  leader  is  not  to  be  sacrificed, 
but  to  be  nominated." 

People  and  press  are  enjoying  comparisons  between  Mr. 
Elaine  and  Henry  Clay.  This  is  in  the  nature  of  a  compli- 
ment to  the  living  great  man  and  to  the  distinguished  dead 
alike,  and  at  the  same  time  it  is  suggestive  in  a  political 
sense.  The  life  and  character  of  Henry  Clay  should  be 
carefully  studied  by  the  youth  of  America.  To  those  of 
advanced  age  they  are  well  known,  but  our  young  men  can 


158  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

find  nothing  more  instructive  in  the  way  of  American 
biography.  His  humble  childhood  and  early  struggles,  his 
subsequent,  long,  and  brilliant  career,  his  great  public  ser- 
vices and  eminently  noble  qualities,  are  all  rife  with  in- 
structive lessons. 

From  his  birth  in  a  Virginia  farm-house,  amid  the  con- 
flict of  the  Revolution,  and  his  entrance,  an  unfriended 
youth,  into  the  hardships  of  a  professional  life  in  the  West, 
up  to  his  last  exit  from  the  chief  council  of  the  Nation; 
whether  uttering  the  words  of  eloquence  at  the  bar  or  in 
the  senate-chamber;  whether  raising  a  determined  voice  for 
the  birth  of  other  republics  in  the  new  world,  and  against 
the  oppression  of  long-struggling,  famished,  and  down-trod- 
den Greece,  or  presenting  an  equally  determined  front  to 
the  encroachments  of  executive  power  at  home;  whether 
representing  the  dignity  and  worth  of  the  American  name 
in  a  foreign  country,  or,  in  our  own  midst,  forming,  defend- 
ing, establishing  the  great  American  system  of  finance ;  or, 
by  the  efforts  of  an  almost  despairing  eloquence,  seeking  to 
save  the  Republic  from  dishonor,  disunion,  and  ruin ;  no  one 
of  these,  or  the  many  other  high  stations  occupied  by  him 
before  the  public  in  a  long  and  busy  life,  did  Mr.  Clay  ever 
leave  with  the  suspicion  of  stain  upon  his  character,  or 
without  an  addition  to  his  honorable  fame. 

In  some  things  he  was  greater,  because  more  advanced, 
than  his  party ;  and  in  this  respect  Mr.  Elaine  was  like 
him  ten  years  ago.  The  party  has  now  overtaken  the 
leader.  Mr.  Clay  was  the  most  brilliant  and  versatile 
statesman  of  his  time.  His  dash,  his  daring,  his  clear- 
sighted comprehension  of  affairs,  and  hence,  his  successes, 


THE  PRESS  AND  THE  PEOPLE.         159 

excited  the  jealousy  of  his  compatriots  and  the  intense 
hatred  of  his  opponents.  Herein  the  comparison  holds  good 
again.  Mr.  Clay  was  a  national  man.  This  statement  re- 
quires no  proof.  Neither  would  a  similar  statement  of  Mr. 
Elaine's  position.  Mr.  Clay  was  in  the  best  sense  an  honor- 
able, high-minded  man,  whom  his  friends  were  always  ready 
to  trust  in  his  measures,  because  they  were  fully  convinced 
of  the  soundness  and  elevation  of  his  principles.  The  con- 
fidence Mr.  Elaine's  friends  repose  in  him  could  not  be  more 
fully  described  in  a  sentence.  But  it  is  possible  that  Mr. 
Elaine  has  a  larger  grasp  of  the  public  "  situation "  than 
was  ever  enjoyed  by  Clay,  and  a  more  alert  prescience  of 
the  course  of  events.  However,  there  is  so  much  to  ad- 
mire in  both,  and  so  little  to  condemn  in  either,  we  may 
rest  content  with  the  points  of  likeness  already  established. 


160  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

ELAINE    IN    PUBLIC    LIFE. 

"  Who  makes  by  force  his  merit  known, 

And  lives  to  clutch  the  golden  keys, 

To  mould  a  mighty  state's  decrees, 
And  shape  the  whisper  of  the  throne : 
And  moving  up  from  high  to  higher, 

Becomes  on  fortune's  crowning  slope, 

The  pillar  of  a  people's  hope, 
The  center  of  a  world's  desire."  TENNYSON. 

IN  THE  HOUSE. 

IN  the  past  twenty-five  years  the  atmosphere  of  politics 
has  been  cleansed,  and  a  vigilant  supervision  over  all  de- 
partments of  the  public  service  encouraged,  by  the  election 
to  Congress  of  more  able  and  fair-minded  men  than  had  im- 
mediately, previous  to  the  period  named,  distinguished  that 
representative  body.  For  the  better  part,  we  think,  these 
men  have  been  practical,  matter-of-fact  individuals,  whose 
rights  and  duties  were  not  theories,  but  crystalized  facts ; 
whose  heroism  in  their  defense  sprang  from  clear  concep- 
tions of  truth  and  justice;  whose  consistency  has  been  treas- 
ured as  a  jewel  indeed.  Many  of  them  have  enjoyed  sin- 
gular felicity  in  expression  and  emphasis  of  truth.  This 
does  not  mean  rhetorical  self-elation,  nor  forensic  fisticuffs, 
nor  any  trick  of  words,  but  that  spontaneous  welling  up  of 
fact  and  principle  which  comes  in  spite  of  opposition,  and 


ELAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  161 

sometimes  thrives  upon  its  opposing  forces.  It  rests  upon  a 
substratum  of  that  degree  of  integrity  which  was  tested  by 
one  of  the  Romaa  emperors.  Wishing  to  place  the  most 
worthy  of  his  courtiers  in  the  important  offices,  he  resolved 
upon  an  ingenious  expedient  to  ascertain  their  merits.  He 
pretended  that  he  would  banish  all  those  from  his  presence 
and  court  who  did  not  renounce  Christianity.  A  considerable 
number,  in  whom  the  love  of  place  was  stronger  than  religious 
integrity,  renounced  Christianity  with  remarkable  promptness. 
The  prince  then  promoted  those  who  kept  firm  to  their  faith 
and  banished  the  others  from  his  court,  saying :  "  They  who 
are  untrue  to  their  God  will  not  be  faithful  to  their  prince." 
Those  public  servants  who  are  not  governed  by  integrity 
will  be  untrue  to  their  trusts,  whenever  the  occasion  prom- 
ises to  gratify  their  ambition  or  result  in  their  pecuniary 
profit.  We  need  not  go  back  to  remote  ages  for  examples. 
It  is  unnecessary  to  cite  Warren  Hastings,  or  Arthur  Gor- 
gey,  or  Benedict  Arnold,  in  proof  of  the  depravity  charged. 
Modern  instances  are  quite  too  plentiful  to  need  a  support 
from  precedent,  and,  although  we  can  not  insist  that  a  pub- 
lic man  shall  be  in  advance  of  his  age  in  the  exercise  of  the 
higher  virtues,  we  certainly  have  a  right  to  expect  that  our 
law-makers  will  furnish  living  examples  of  obedience  to  law 
and  order.  We  have  a  right  to  expect  from  them  better 
examples  than  were  furnished  in  that  era  of  passion  when 
Charles  Sumner  was  stricken  down  by  a  blow  from  a  bludg- 
eon in  the  hands  of  a  fellow-member  of  our  national  Legis- 
lature ;  and,  thank  God  !  our  government  is  now  in  a  position 
to  enforce  the  realization  of  this  expectation,  if  force  ever 

becomes  necessary  for  such  purposes. 

n 


162  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOO  AN. 

Its  strength  in  twenty-five  years  has  increased  five  thou- 
sand fold,  divided  as  follows : 

Moral  strength, 1,000 

Intellectual  strength, 1,000 

Physical  strength 1,000 

Self-respect,         .         . 1,000 

Respect  of  the  World,      ...         .        .        .        .  1,000 

How  has  this  result  been  reached  ?  By  growth ;  by  the 
assertion  of  power  long  dormant;  by  a  general  awakening 
to  the  fact  that  we  are  a  Nation.  Thirty  years  ago  we 
were  more  strange  to  ourselves  than  to  the  world.  We  had 
come  into  the  belief  that  our  institutions  were  permanently 
established ;  that  nothing  could  disturb  them ;  that  exertion 
on  our  part  to  ward  off  dangers  which  apparently  threatened 
was  mere  waste  of  energy;  in  fact,  that  we  were  invulner- 
able ;  in  effect,  that  republican  institutions  were  a  palladium 
to  protect  us  against  dangers  from  without  and  within.  Our 
people  had  no  idea  that  there  were  citizens  of  the  Union 
base  enough  to  defile  the  ark  of  republican  covenant  and 
break  the  tables  of  the  organic  law — however  poisonous  the 
scummy  threat  that  often  rose  to  the  surface  of  debate. 
Most  of  these  threats  were  mere  vaporings  for  the  occasion, 
and  probably  none  were  more  surprised  than  their  utterers 
when  they  were  partially  realized  in  events.  Those  who 
threatened  civil  war  with  the  greatest  show  of  passion 
were  among  th'e  last  to  believe  in  the  possibility  of  such  a 
result. 

When  Mr.  Elaine  entered  the  National  House,  the  country 
was  being  torn  by  internecine  conflict  between  two  sections 
without  natural  geographical  division,  and  having  no  disagree- 


ELAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  163 

ment  except  upon  one  point  of  Republican  doctrine,  that  the 
majority  should  make  the  laws  and  direct  the  government. 
A  considerable  faction  denied  this  right  upon  the  question 
of  slavery  in  the  Territories,  and  upon  permitting  slavery  in 
new  States  as  they  were  admitted,  and  therefore  they  declared 
and  waged  war  against  the  majority,  who  believed  that  re- 
publican institutions  should  not  be  subordinated  to  any  ques- 
tion of  expediency,  nor,  in  fact,  to  any  question.  In  the 
language  of  Mr.  Seward,  this  minority  represented  "  the  per- 
version of  a  temporary  and  partisan  excitement,  and  an  incon- 
siderate purpose  of  unjustifiable  and  unconstitional  aggres- 
sion upon  the  rights  and  the  authority  vested  in  the  Federal 
Government."  This  was  a  corre3t  view  of  the  insurgents  at 
the  beginning  of  active  hostilities,  but  neighborhood  sym- 
pathy and  coercion  all  combined  to  enlarge  the  forces  of  the 
rebel  element,  and  make  them  more  formidable  in  the  field 
than  they  had  shown  themselves  in  the  arena  of  debate. 

Mr.  Elaine  entered  Congress  in  1863,  at  a  time  when 
conflicts  between  the  forces  of  the  Union  and  the  Confed- 
eracy "  were  frequent,  and  in  which  the  palm  of  victory  was 
about  equally  divided ;  or,  if  there  was  any  difference,  it 
favored  the  side  of  disunion.  It  was  just  after  Gettysburg 
and  Chickamauga.  The  North  was  enveloped  in  gloom  as 
with  a  pall.  Volunteer  additions  to  the  army  had  almost 
ceased,  and  an  order  for  heavy  conscriptions  had  been  made. 
The  President  and  the  Congress  were  evidently  involved  in 
the  perplexities  of  an  obscure  problem,  for  which  there  was 
no  rule,  and  no  way  to  a  solution  except  through  a  miracle. 
This  is  the  picture  the  situation  presented  to  people  of  obser- 
vation in  the  autumn  and  winter  of  1863-4,  and  they  looked 


164  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOO  AN. 

to  Congress  and  the  President  to  improve  the  status.  The 
fact  is,  neither  our  army  nor  our  people  had,  until  this  epoch, 
been  aggressive  enough  for  the  purposes  of  real  warfare.  We 
had  been  afraid  of  hurting  the  people  of  the  South,  either  in 
their  persons  or  their  sensibilities,  and  some  of  our  generals 
had  preferred  the  plan  of  frightening  them  into  submission 
by  digging  entrenchments  remote  from  their  positions  to  ball 
cartridge  at  short  range,  and  steel  to  steel  in  a  charge  of 
cavalry.  There  had  been  some  desperate  fighting,  but  much 
of  it  was  like  the  sham  engagements  of  the  old  citizen  militia 
on  muster  days,  when  perspiration,  not  blood,  was  shed  in 
lavish  abundance. 

So  it  will  be  seen  that  Mr.  Elaine  entered  Congress  at  a 
time  when  aggressive  men  were  in  demand — men  quick  and 
firm  in  action,  with  strong  determination,  without  desultori- 
ness  or  ambiguity — men  who,  like  Burke,  regarded  difficulty 
as  "  a  severe  instructor,  set  over  us  by  the  supreme  ordi- 
nance of  a  parental  guardian  and  legislator,  who  knows  us 
better  than  we  know  ourselves.  He  that  wrestles  with  us, 
strengthens  our  nerves  and  sharpens  our  skill,"  says  Burke. 
"  Our  antagonist  is  our  helper.  This  conflict  with  difficulty 
obliges  us  to  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  our  object,  and 
compels  us  to  consider  it  in  all  its  relations."  The  truth  of 
these  words  was  proved  by  the  great  leaders  of  the  Thirty- 
eighth  Congress,  among  whom  were  Ramsey,  Morgan,  Trum- 
bull,  Harlan,  Morrill,  Garfield,  Davis,  Sumner,  Chandler, 
Hale,  Wade,  Sherman,  Wilmot,  Anthony,  Foot,  Farnsworth, 
Ingersoll,  Washburne,  Colfax,  Julian,  Orth,  Allison,  Bout- 
well,  Dawes,  Windom,  Fenton,  Ashley,  Schenck,  Kelley, 
Baxter,  Wallace,  and  fifty  others  scarcely  less  distinguished. 


BLAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  165 

Mr.  Elaine  did  not  essay  any  of  the  functions  of  leadership 
in  this  Congress.  He  was  but  thirty-three  years  of  age, 
and,  as  he  expressed  it,  "felt  more  like  studying  his  duty 
first,  and  then  he  could  perform  it  with  more  satisfaction  to 
himself  and  the  country."  He  proved  a  good  student. 
The  first  session  of  this  Congress  was  largely  devoted  to  the 
consideration  of  the  abolition  of  slavery.  For  the  further- 
ance of  this  object,  it  was  proposed  to  submit  to  the  States 
a  Thirteenth  Amendment  to  the  Constitution.  The  public 
mind  was  ready  for  it,  and  anxious  to  bring  to  a  test  the 
vexed  question  which  had  occasioned  so  much  anxiety  and 
bloodshed  in  the  past  three  years. 

Congress  and  the  President  had  recognized,  in  the  inevi- 
table course  of  events,  that  the  abolition  of  American  slav- 
ery was  a  foregone  conclusion,  and  on  January  1,  1863,  the 
Proclamation  of  Emancipation  had  been  promulgated.  Al- 
though it  was  a  surprise  to  the  people,  it  was  greeted  at 
the  North  by  thousands  upon  thousands  as  a  war  measure 
of  most  excellent  device;  whereas,  as  a  measure  of  peace, 
these  same  thousands  would  have  denounced  it  as  an  expe- 
dient of  the  most  wicked  robbery.  The  President  resorted 
to  it  with  reluctance,  and  only  as  a  military  necessity.  He 
was  anxious  to  compensate  the  border  States  for  all  pecun- 
iary loss  it  might  occasion  them,  and  they,  with  several 
designated  localities  in  other  slave  States,  were  excepted 
from  the  operation  of  the  Proclamation.  Mr.  Lincoln  was 
one  of  the  most  conservative  men  of  his  party,  and  depre- 
cated precipitation  in  the  change  of  any  established  order. 
The  first  proposition  in  Congress  so  to  amend  the  Constitu- 
tion as  to  prohibit  American  slavery,  was  made  by  Hon. 


166  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

James  M.  Ashley,  of  Ohio,  and  zealously  advocated  by  him 
from  the  beginning  to  the  date  of  its  final  accomplishment. 
Mr.  Elaine  earnestly  seconded  him  in  speech  and  vote 
through  the  entire  contest,  and  assisted  in  defeating  an  op- 
position at  once  intelligent  and  unscrupulous ;  but  the  young 
Congressman  was  modest,  and  did*not  come  to  the  front  as  a 
leader  for  several  years.  So  slight  an  impression  did  his 
appearance  make  upon  Speaker  Colfax,  at  first,  that  he  was 
placed  near  the  tail  of  the  Military  Committee,  which  was 
otherwise  composed  of  six  generals,  fresh  from  the  field, 
and  two  Democrats,  fresh  from  their  constituents.  What  an 
opportunity  was  that  for  a  civilian  who  had  never  smelled 
gunpowder  ?  The  clerk  of  that  committee,  now  a  journalist, 
relates  that  the  young  Congressman  from  Maine  captured  his 
heart  without  ceremony  by  his  terse,  interesting,  paragraphy 
way  of  talking,  and  his  perfect  remembrance  of  all  impor- 
tant political  facts  in  our  national  history.  He  told  this 
clerk,  in  a  confidential  chat  one  day,  that  he  meant  to  get 
upon  the  Appropriations  Committee  in  the  next  Congress, 
and  in  the  Congress  following  he  hoped  to  get  a  chair- 
manship. Then,  he  said,  he  would  look  forward  to  the 
speaker's  chair.  Observe  this  evidence  of  his  prescience ; 
for  it  all  came  about  as  he  had  planned,  except  that  he  be- 
came Speaker  two  years  sooner  than  he  had  thought  would 
be  possible.  His  plans  were  always  made  in  advance — the 
full  line  of  his  future  marked  out  and  faithfully  worked  up 
to ;  hence  his  systematic  performance  and  distinguished  suc- 
cess. In  less  than  two  years  from  the  time  he  thus  spoke 
of  the  objects  of  his  ambition,  he  was  chairman  of  the  Ap- 
propriations Committee,  and  in  four  years  was  speaker  of  the 


ELAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  167 

House,   by   the   unanimous   nomination    of   the   Republican 
members  in  caucus. 

A  brief  sketch^of  Mr.  Elaine's  position  upon  the  ques- 
tions which  agitated  the  country  immediately  succeeding 
the  civil  war,  and  previous  to  his  elevation  to  the  speaker- 
ship,  will  furnish  the  reader  with  all  necessary  information 
regarding  the'  subject  of  this  memoir  during  the  period 
named.  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  premise  that  his  posi- 
tions upon  all  questions  of  general  interest  are  positive,  and 
often  pronounced,  even  to  the  point  of  aggressiveness.  No- 
body can  charge  him  with  dodging  an  issue  or  seeking  to 
evade  any  responsibility  that  seemed  proper  for  him  to  as- 
sume. We  make  the  following  extracts  from  his  remarks  in 
reply  to  reflections  cast  upon  the  State  of  Maine  by  Hon. 
S.  S.  Cox,  delivered  in  the  House,  June  2,  1864 : 

"  If  there  be  a  State  in  this  Union  that  can  say  with 
truth  that  her  federal  connection  confers  no  special  benefit 
of  a  material  character,  that  State  is  Maine.  And  yet,  sir, 
no  State  is  more  attached  to  the  Federal  Union  than  Maine. 
Her  affection  and  her  pride  are  centered  in  the  Union,  and 
God  knows  that  she  has  contributed  of  her  best  blood  and 
treasure  without  stint  in  supporting  the  war  for  the  Union ; 
and  she  will  do  so  to  the  end.  But  she  resents,  and  I, 
speaking  for  her,  resent  the  insinuation  that  she  derives 
any  undue  advantage  from  federal  legislation,  or  that  she 

gets  a  single  dollar  she  does  not  pay  back I 

have  spoken  in  vindication  of  a  State  that  is  as  inde- 
pendent and  as  proud  as  any  within  the  limits  of  the 
Union.  I  have  spoken  for  a  people  as  high-toned  and 
as  honorable  as  can  be  found  in  the  wide  world — many 


168  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

of  them  my  constituents — who  are  as  manly  and  as  brave 
as  ever  faced  the  ocean's  storms.  So  long,  sir,  as  I  have 
a  seat  on  this  floor,  the  State  of  Maine  shall  not  be  slan- 
dered by  the  gentleman  from  Ohio,  or  by  gentlemen  from 
any  other  State. 

"A  great  deal  has  been  said  recently  in  the  other  end 
of  the  Capitol  in  regard  to  the  fishing  bounties,  a  portion 
of  which  is  paid  to  Maine.  I  have  a  word  to  say  on  that 
matter,  and  I  may  as  well  say  it  here.  According  to  the 
records  of  the  Navy  Department,  the  State  of  Maine  has 
sent  into  the  naval  service  since  the  beginning  of  this  war 
six  thousand  skilled  seamen,  to  say  nothing  of  the  trained 
and  invaluable  officers  she  has  contributed  to  the  same 
sphere  of  patriotic  duty.  For  these  men  the  State  has 
received  no  credit  whatever  on  her  quotas  for  the  Army. 
If  you  will  calculate  the  amount  of  bounty  that  would  have 
been  paid  to  that  number  of  men  had  they  enlisted  in  the 
army,  instead  of  entering  the  navy,  as  they  did  without 
bounty,  you  will  find  it  will  foot  up  a  larger  sum  than 
Maine  has  received  in  fishing  bounties  for  the  past  twenty 
years.  Thus,  sir,  the  original  proposition  on  which  fishing 
bounties  were  granted — that  they  would  build  up  a  hardy 
and  skillful  class  of  mariners  for  the  public  defense  in  time 
of  public  danger — has  been  made  good  a  hundred  and  a 
thousand-fold  by  the  experience  and  the  developments  of 
this  war." 

On  the  21st  June  he  added  this  further  testimony  upon 
the  same  subject :  "  The  sentiment  of  Maine  is  loyal  to  the 
core,  and  she  has  shown  her  loyalty  by  complying  with 
patriotic  readiness  to  all  demands  thus  far  made  upon  her 


ELAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  169 

for  soldiers  to  recruit  the  army  or  for  sailors  to  man  the 
navy." 

On  the  same  .day,  June  21,  1864,  he  spoke  upon  the 
Conscription  bill,  and  the  following  extract  will  afford  a  fair 
idea  of  the  spirit  of  his  remarks  : 

"A  conscription  is  a  hard  thing  at  best,  Mr.  Speaker, 
but  the  people  of  this  country  are  patriotically  willing  to 
submit  to  one  in  this  great  crisis,  for  the  great  cause  at 
stake.  There  is  no  necessity,  however,  for  making  it  abso- 
lutely merciless  and  sweeping.  I  say,  in  my  judgment  there 
is  no  necessity  for  making  it  so,  even  if  there  were  no  ante- 
cedent question  as  to  the  expediency  and  practicability  of 
the  measure.  I  believe  the  law,  as  it  stands,  allowing  com- 
mutation and  substitution,  is  sufficiently  effective,  if  judi- 
ciously enforced.  It  will  raise  a  large  number  of  men  by  its 
direct  operation,  and  it  will  secure  a  very  large  amount  of 
money  with  which  to  pay  bounties  to  volunteers. 

"  I  can  not  refrain  from  asking  gentlemen  around  me, 
whether  in  their  judgment  the  pending  measure,  if  submitted 
to  the  popular  vote,  would  receive  the  support  of  even  a 
respectable  minority  in  any  district  in  the  loyal  States? 
Just  let  it  be  understood  that  whoever  the  lot  falls  on  must 
go,  regardless  of  all  business  considerations,  all  private  in- 
terests, all  personal  engagements,  all  family  obligations ;  that 
the  draft  is  to  be  sharp,  decisive,  final,  and  inexorable,  with- 
out commutation  and  without  substitution,  and  my  word  for 
it,  you  will  create  consternation  in  all  the  loyal  States.  Such 
a  conscription  was  never  resorted  to  but  once,  even  in  the 
French  Empire  under  the  absolutism  of  the  first  Napoleon; 
and  for  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  to  attempt  its  en- 


170  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOO  AN. 

forcement  upon  their  constituents  is  to  ignore  the  first  prin- 
ciples of  republican  and  representative  government." 

When  the  Enrollment  bill  was  under  consideration  in  the 
House,  February  21,  1865,  Mr.  Elaine  moved  to  amend  the 
second  section  by  adding  the  following : 

"  Provided,  That  in  any  call  for  troops,  no  county,  town, 
township,  ward,  precinct,  or  election  district,  shall  have 
credit  except  for  men  actually  furnished  on  said  call,  or 
preceding  call,  by  said  county,  town,  township,  ward,  pre- 
cinct, or  election  district,  and  mustered  into  the  military  or 
naval  service  on  the  quota  thereof." 

In  favor  of  this  amendment,  among  other  things,  Mr. 
Elaine  said  :  "  Throughout  the  whole  country  we  hear  of 
substitute  brokers  selling  these  credits,  obtained  in  some 
mysterious  way,  as  one  would  sell  town  scrip  in  the  market ; 
and  from  this  source  has  risen  a  large  number  of  those  con- 
structive '  paper  credits '  against  which  my  amendment  is 
leveled,  and  which,  for  the  future,  it  will  prevent.  It  may 
not  be  in  our  power  to  remedy  the  wrong  practices  of  the 
past,  but  from  this  time  forward  we  can  guard  against  the 
repetition  of  these  practices.  We  can  deal  with  equal  and 
exact  justice  to  all  men  and  to  all  sections;  and  above  all, 
we  can  deal  justly  by  the  government  in  its  struggle  for 
existence.  In  its  hour  of  peril  it  calls  for  men — living, 
active,  resolute  men,  and  it  is  worse  than  madness  to  answer 
this  call  with  any  thing  else  than  men. 

"  Let  me  say  in  conclusion,  Mr.  Speaker,  that  nothing  so 
discourages  and  disheartens  the  brave  men  at  the  front  as 
the  belief  that  proper  measures  are  not  adopted  at  home  for 
re-enforcing  and  sustaining  them.  Even  a  lukewarmness  or 


ELAINE  IN  P  UBLIC  LIFE.  171 

a  backwardness  in  that  respect  is  enough ;  but  when  you 
add  to  that  the  suspicion  that  unfair  devices  have  been  re- 
sorted to  by  those -charged  with  filling  quotas,  you  naturally 
influence  the  prejudices  and  passions  of  our  veterans  in  the 
field  in  a  manner  calculated  to  lessen  their  personal  zeal  and 
generally  to  weaken  the  discipline  of  the  army.  After  four 
years  of  such  patriotic  and  heroic  effort  for  national  unity  as 
the  world  has  never  witnessed  before,  we  can  not  now  afford 
to  have  the  great  cause  injured  or  its  fair  fame  darkened  by 
a  single  unworthy  incident  connected  with  it.  The  improper 
practices  of  individuals  can  not  disgrace  or  degrade  the 
Nation ;  but  after  these  practices  are  brought  to  the  attention 
of  Congress,  we  shall  assuredly  be  disgraced  and  degraded 
if  we  fail  to  apply  the  requisite  remedy  when  that  remedy 
is  in  our  power.  Let  us  then,  in  this  hour  of  triumph  to 
the  national  arms,  do  our  duty  here,  our  duty  to  the  troops 
in  the  field,  our  duty  to  our  constituents  at  home,  and  our 
duty,  above  all,  to  our  country,  whose  existence  has  been  in 
such  peril  in  the  past,  but  whose  future  of  greatness  and 
glory  seems  now  so  assured  and  so  radiant." 

During  the  whole  period  of  reconstruction,  Elaine  was 
one  of  the  most  active,  energetic,  and  useful  members  of  the 
House.  He  was  vigorous,  but  calm;  determined,  but  not 
acrimonious ;  urgent  in  the  presentation  of  fact  and  argu- 
ment, but  willing  to  hear  and  weigh  all  his  opponent  had  to 
present.  In  shaping  some  of  the  more  important  features 
of  the  Fourteenth  Amendment,  particularly  that  relating  to 
the  basis  of  representation,  his  efforts  were  unceasing  till 
they  were  crowned  by  success.  There  are  few  things  more 
valuable  and  interesting  in  the  history  of  Congress  than  the 


172  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

deliberations  which  led  to  practical  reconstruction,  and  in 
every  phase  of  these,  by  word  and  deed,  Mr.  Elaine  bore  a 
prominent  part. 

December  10,  1866,  he  spoke  upon,  "  What  the  Govern- 
ment Owes  Its  Subjects."  We  quote  briefly  as  follows: 

"  Among  the  solemn  duties  of  a  sovereign  government  is 
the  protection  of  those  citizens  who,  under  great  temptations 
and  amid  great  perils,  maintain  their  faith  and  their  loyalty. 
The  obligation  on  the  Federal  Government  to  protect  the 
loyalists  of  the  South  is  supreme,  and  they  must  take  all 
needful  means  to  secure  that  protection.  Among  the  most 
needful  is  the  gift  of  free  suffrage,  and  that  must  be  guaran- 
teed. There  is  no  protection  you  can  extend  to  a  man  so 
effective  and  conclusive  as  the  power  to  protect  himself. 
And  in  assuring  protection  to  the  loyal  citizens,  you  assure 
permanency  to  the  government ;  so  that  the  bestowal  of  suf- 
frage is  not  merely  the  discharge  of  a  personal  obligation 
toward  those  who  are  enfranchised,  but  it  is  the  most  far- 
sighted  provision  against  social  disorder,  the  surest  guaranty 
of  peace,  prosperity,  and  public  justice." 

While  Mr.  Elaine  was  absent  in  Europe,  in  1867,  there 
was  quite  an  excitement  in  various  parts  of  the  country  over 
the  specious  theory  of  paying  the  debt  of  the  government 
in  greenbacks — or  in  other  words,  taking  up  one  form  of  obli- 
gation by  substituting  another.  Mr.  Pendleton  in  Ohio,  and 
General  Butler  in  Massachusetts,  had  set  this  paper  ball  in 
motion,  and  it  seemed  to  be  making  some  headway.  Shortly 
after  his  return,  in  the  autumn  of  1867,  at  a  special  adjourned 
session  of  Congress,  Mr.  Elaine  attacked  the  Pendleton- 
Butler  heresy  in  a  speech  which  showed  up  the  absurdity 


ELAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  173 

of  the  theory  upon  which  it  was  based,  and  the  utter  folly 
of  calling  the  means  it  proposed  by  the  commercial  name  of 
payment.  This  speech  is  reproduced  in  another  part  of  the 
present  work,  but  herewith  we  submit  a  shorter  effort  on 
the  same  subject  which  will  be  found  interesting.  It  was 
delivered  by  Mr.  Elaine  in  the  House,  March  7,  1868,  and 
is  as  follows : 

"  The  questions  involved  in  paying  off  the  five-twenty 
bonds,  Mr.  Chairman,  are  surrounded  to  a  considerable  ex- 
tent with  gratuitous  misrepresentations  of  heated  partisans, 
and  to  no  small  degree,  I  fear,  with  honest  misapprehensions 
on  the  part  of  those  who  desire  the  maintenance  of  the 
public  credit  untarnished  and  inviolate.  Having  addressed 
the  House  at  some  length  on  this  subject  at  the  opening  of 
the  session,  I  desire  now  to  add  a  few  words  by  way  of  appen- 
dix, and  possibly  of  explanation  of  some  errors  which  are 
industriously  disseminated  through  the  country. 

"  First.  Many  persons  seem  to  imagine,  and  many  Demo- 
cratic papers  have  deliberately  stated,  that  a  proposition  has 
been  made  in  Congress  to  pay  off  the  five-twenty  bonds  in 
coin  at  this  time,  while  gold  commands  a  heavy  premium  over 
greenbacks.  And  on  this  groundless  premise  many  honest- 
minded  men  wax  exceeding  worth,  and  cry  out  with  proper 
indignation  against  the  bondholder  having  gold  when  the 
pensioner,  the  soldier,  and  the  day-laborer  have  to  take  green- 
backs for  what  is  due  to  them.  Now,  to  all  persons  afflicted 
with  this  error,  let  me  say  that  no  man  in  Congress  has  been 
fool  enough  or  knave  enough  to  propose  that  the  five-twenties 
be  paid  in  gold  a  single  day  before  the  greenbacks  shall  be  paid 
in  gold  likewise.  The  man  who  holds  a  greenback  holds  the 


174  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOO  AN. 

government  obligation  to  pay  in  gold  just  as  much  as  a  man 
who  holds  a  five-twenty  bond,  and  it  would  be  just  cause 
of  complaint  if  the  government  should  anticipate  the  pay- 
ment of  the  five-twenties  in  gold  before  it  is  ready  to  pay 
the  greenback  in  gold  also.  The  first  series  of  the  five- 
twenties  will  not  fall  due  until  May,  1882,  more  than  four- 
teen years  from  this  time.  Long  before  that  date  is  reached 
we  shall  be  on  specie-paying  basis,  and  every  holder  of  a 
greenback  will  be  able  to  secure  gold  for  it  at  his  option, 
and  then  there  will  no  longer  be  any  objection  to  paying  the 
bondholder  in  gold  also.  Nor,  indeed,  on  the  other  hand, 
will  the  bondholder  then  object  to  being  paid  in  greenbacks, 
as  the  two  kinds  of  currency  will  then  be  convertible  and 
co-equal. 

"Second.  Those  who  clamor  for  paying  off  the  five- 
twenties  in  greenbacks  at  this  time,  on  the  ground  that 
money  which  is  good  enough  for  the  pensioner,  the  soldier, 
and  the  day-laborer,  is  good  enough  for  the  bondholder  like- 
wise, seem  to  forget  that  the  process  by  which  they  would 
so  easily  get  rid  of  the  bondholder  involves  most  destructive 
consequences  to  the  pensioner,  the  soldier,  the  day-laborer, 
and  every  other  person  who  owns,  handles,  or  uses  green- 
backs. It  is  palpable  and  admitted  that  the  five-twenties  can 
not  be  paid  off  in  greenbacks  without  a  very  large  inflation 
of  the  currency,  and  to  inflate  the  currency  is  to  render 
each  particular  dollar  worth  so  much  less,  to  rob  each  par- 
ticular dollar  of  its  purchasing  power,  to  the  precise  extent 
that  the  inflation  is  carried.  And  if  this  inflation  be  carried 
to  the  $300,000,000  of  new  and  additional  issue  advocated 
by  the  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  (Mr.  Butler),  in  his 


ELAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  175 

elaborate  speech  a  few  weeks  since,  the  result  must  be 
ruinous  and  distressing  in  the  extreme  to  pensioners,  soldiers, 
day-laborers,  and  ajl  other  classes  whose  means  are  limited. 
Indeed,  with  the  amount  of  inflation  named,  I  confidently 
believe  that  the  classes  of  citizens  to  whom  I  have  referred 
and  all  others  similarly  situated  would  be  deprived  in  effect 
of  nearly  one-half  of  what  they  now  receive.  To  my  mind 
no  more  ingenious  and  certain  way  of  robbing  the  class  who 
have  small  fixed  incomes  or  who  work  for  daily  wages  could 
possibly  be  devised  than  to  pay  off  the  five-twenty  bonds  in 
greenbacks  procured  by  an  additional  and  inflated  issue.  On 
the  other  hand,  if  no  mischievous  delusion  of  this  kind  be 
resorted  to,  we  shall  without  any  farther  contraction  of  the 
currency,  and  without  any  financial  convulsion,  gravitate 
steadily  and  safely  toward  specie  payment.  We  shall  thus, 
without  diminishing  the  present  volume  of  greenbacks,  be 
continually  enhancing  their  purchasing  power,  making  the 
money  of  pensioners,  soldiers,  and  day-laborers  far  more 
valuable  to  them,  month  by  month  and  year  by  year,  and  in 
the  end  render  a  paper  dollar  the  full  equivalent  of  a  gold 
dollar.  Then,  when  the  government  shall  be  paying  its  green- 
back creditor  in  gold,  there  will  certainly  be  no  objection  to 
paying  the  bondholder  in  gold  also;  and  no  one  proposes  to 
do  it  a  day  earlier  I 

"  Third.  Does  any  sane  man  doubt  that  the  inflation  of 
the  currency  would  speedily  result  in  its  depreciation?  If 
so,  he  shuts  his  eyes  to  the  prominent  facts  of  history,  to  our 
own  experience  as  a  Nation,  and  to  the  plainest  deductions  of 
common  sense.  An  excess  of  irredeemable  money  at  once 
raises  the  price  of  all  commodities  necessary  for  daily  con- 


176  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

sumption.  Clothing  becomes  higher  and  food  becomes  higher 
without  a  corresponding  increase  on  the  part  of  those  of 
limited  means  to  purchase  these  articles.  The  rich  can 
stand  it,  but  what  would  become  of  the  poor?  The  man 
who  lives  by  his  daily  toil  would  find  the  necessaries  of  life 
run  up  in  price  far  beyond  any  increase  he  could  hope  to 
secure  for  his  labor;  and  it  would  soon  become  a  struggle 
for  existence  with  him  and  his  family.  I  do  not  think  any 
imagination  can  picture  or  foretell  the  misery  that  would  be 
inflicted  on  this  country  if  the  currency  should  be  inflated 
to  the  extent  necessary  tp  pay  the  five-twenties  in  green- 
backs, as  advocated  by  the  gentleman  from  Massachusetts 
[Mr.  Butler],  and  the  gentleman  from  Ohio,  not  now  a  mem- 
ber of  this  House  [Mr.  Pendleton].  And  in  this  connec- 
nection  I  desire  further  to  say  that  it  is  an  immense  delu- 
sion to  attribute  any  of  the  dullness  now  prevalent  in  busi- 
ness circles  to  a  scarcity  of  money.  We  have  over  seven 
hundred  million  of  dollars  of  paper  money  now  in  circulation 
nearly  three  times  as  much  as  the  entire  bank  circulation  of 
the  United  States  prior  to  1861,  while  it  is  quite  notori- 
ous that  the  money  markets  in  our  chief  business  centers 
were  rarely  known  to  be  easier,  or  more  abundantly  sup- 
plied than  during  the  whole  of  this  winter.  Moreover  busi- 
ness of  all  kinds  in  France  and  England  at  this  time  is  far 
duller  than  with  us ;  and  yet,  in  both  these  countries  the  ple- 
thora of  money  is  in  excess  of  what  was  ever  known  before. 
The  Bank  of  France  alone  holds  a  surplus  of  $200,000,000, 
and  a  corresponding  amount  is  held  in  the  Bank  of  England 
and  by  the  large  banking  houses  at  Frankfort-on-the-Main. 
In  view  of  these  facts  it  seems  to  me  that  no  delusion  is  so 


ELAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  177 

absurd  as  to  suppose  that  any  relief  could  come  from  an  in- 
flation of  the  currency.  Misery,  wide-spread  and  hopeless, 
would  be  its  onlyjand  inevitable  result. 

"Fourth.  Nor  do  I  see  how  any  gentleman  can  consist- 
ently propose  an  inflation  of  the  currency  in  the  face  of 
an  express  and  solemn  pledge  to  the  contrary  by  Congress. 
When  the  government  was  very  hard  pressed  for  money,  and 
when  the  great  fear  was  that  our  whole  financial  fabric,  like 
the  continental  system  of  our  Revolutionary  ancestors  might 
be  utterly  and  hopelessly  ruined  by  a  deluge  of  paper  money, 
Congress,  by  deliberate  enactment  of  June  30,  1864,  pledged 
to  all  the  public  creditors  that  "  the  total  amount  of  treas- 
ury notes  issued  or  to  be  issued  should  never  exceed  $400,- 
000,000."  We  are  now  within  $40,000,000  of  that  amount, 
and  if  we  were  ever  so  eager  to  pay  off  our  five-twenties  in 
greenbacks  we  are  absolutely  estopped  by  the  $400,000,000 
pledge.  If  we  disregard  that  pledge  we  might  just  as  well 
trample  on  others  and  take  a  short  cut  at  once  to  repudia- 
tion and  national  bankruptcy.  A  government  that  will  dis- 
regard one  solemn  pledge  can  not  expect  to  be  trusted  on 
other  pledges. 

"Fifth.  Being  thus  estopped  from  procuring  greenbacks 
by  an  additional  issue,  where  else  can  we  secure  them  for 
the  purpose  of  paying  off  our  five-twenty  bonds  at  this 
time?  We  have  no  surplus  in  the  treasury  available  for 
this  purpose,  and  there  remains  but  one  resource,  and  that 
is  to  secure  them  by  taxation.  But  do  the  people  desire  at 
this  time  to  be  taxed  for  the  purpose  of  anticipating  the 
payment  of  a  debt  which  does  not  fall  due  for  more  than 

fourteen  years  to  come?     The  general,  I  may  say  universal, 

12 


178  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOG  AN. 

demand  from  the  people  is  for  a  reduction  of  taxes  to  the 
lowest  point  consistent  with  a  rigidly  economical  administra- 
tion of  the  general  government;  and,  for  one,  I  am  in  favor 
of  the  repeal  and  removal  of  every  tax  that  can  possibly  be 
dispensed  with — especially  those  taxes  that  hinder  and  em- 
barrass the  manufacturing  and  productive  industry  of  the 
country.  With  the  taxes  thus  reduced  we  can  certainly 
hope  for  no  surplus  to  apply  to  the  redemption  of  the  five- 
twenties,  and  it  would  seem  to  me  an  intolerable  burden  and 
an  inexcusable  folly  to  lay  taxes  on  the  people  at  this  time 
for  the  purpose  of  anticipating  the  payment  of  a  large  por- 
tion of  the  entire  national  debt.  It  is  enough,  in  all  con- 
science, to  pay  the  interest;  and  it  seems  little  short  of 
madness  to  propose  levying  taxes  for  the  purpose  of  taking 
from  the  pockets  of  the  people  a  sufficient  amount  of  green- 
backs to  anticipate  the  payment  of  a  large  share  of  the 
principal  ! 

"  Sixth.  There  is  in  the  United  States  to-day  an  amount 
of  gold  and  silver  coin  variously  estimated  at  from  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  to  four  hundred  and  fifty  million  dollars, 
every  cent  of  which  is  as  useless  for  purposes  of  a  circu- 
lating medium  as  though  it  were  all  buried  in  the  depths 
of  the  ocean.  To  inflate  the  currency  is  to  increase  the 
premium  on  gold  and  remove  it  still  further  from  sight. 
But  if  we  do  not  destroy  our  currency  by  a  wild  inflation, 
we  shall,  within  a  brief  period,  reach  a  point  where  paper 
will  be  the  equivalent  of  gold,  and  then  the  vast  amount  of 
specie  will  at  once  spring  into  circulation.  There  is  no 
danger  of  inflation  from  an  excess  of  gold  and  silver,  because 
the  laws  of  export  and  of  supply  and  demand  resulting 


BLAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  179 

from  our  commercial  intercourse  with  other  nations  will 
always  maintain  a  just  equilibrium  in  the  matter  of  a  specie 
currency.  The  danger  of  inflation,  with  its  manifold  and 
multiplying  evils,  arises  only  when  we  have  an  irredeemable 
paper  currency,  which  can  not  be  used  to  pay  a  single  dol- 
lar that  we  owe  abroad,  and  whose  permanent  existence  is 
an  anomaly — at  war  with  all  the  interests  of  commerce  and 
trade.  As  soon  as  we  reach  the  point  where  the  govern- 
ernment  is  able  to  pay  gold  for  its  greenbacks  we  shall 
thereby  and  at  once  call  the  whole  mass  of  gold,  now  so  se- 
curely hoarded,  into  the  channels  of  circulation,  to  quicken 
industry  and  give  stability  to  our  financial  system.  Is  not 
that  a  far  better  and  wiser  course  than  to  inflate  our  cur- 
rency by  a  forced  attempt  to  anticipate  the  payment  of  our 
five-twenties,  and  thus  launch  our  whole  country  on  a  wild 
career  of  paper  money,  in  which  speculators  will  make  enor- 
mous fortunes,  and  in  which  rich  men  will  uniformly  grow 
richer,  but  in  which  the  poor  will  be  ground  down  to  abso- 
lute beggary,  the  men  of  moderate  means  deprived  of  their 
resources,  and  the  day  laborer  be  utterly  unable  to  subsist 
on  the  fruit  of  his  toil?  This  era  of  speculation,  with  all 
of  its  evils,  would  be  the  direct  result  of  that  policy  which 
clamors  to-day  for  the  payment  of  the  five-twenties  in 
greenbacks — the  greenbacks  to  take  care  of  themselves 
when  they  have  done  their  work  of  financial  ruin — leaving 
us  a  bankrupt  people  with  a  dishonored  debt  and  a  debased, 
unredeemed,  and  irredeemable  currency.  The  other  policy, 
which  I  have  done  my  utmost  to  support  and  uphold,  is  to 
pay  both  bond  and  greenback  in  gold — not  now,  but  in  our 
own  good  time — and  not  to  pay  the  bond  in  gold  until  after 


180  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  BLAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

the  greenback  shall  be  paid  in  gold  likewise.  In  other 
words,  the  policy  which  I  advocate  is  to  bring  our  entire 
currency  in  due  season,  without  haste,  without  rashness, 
without  contraction,  without  financial  convulsion,  up  to  the 
specie  standard :  calling  into  circulation  the  vast  amount  of 
gold  and  silver  which  now  lies  hidden  and  buried — having 
all  our  business  conducted  on  a  safe  and  secure  basis,  when 
labor  shall  meet  with  its  full  reward,  when  every  man  will 
know  what  he  is  dealing  in  and  how  much  he  is  worth,  and 
when  the  entire  country  will  rejoice  in  an  abundant  circula- 
tion of  both  gold  and  paper,  in  which  paper  will  be  as  good 
as  gold,  and  gold  no  better  than  paper." 

Mr.  Blame's  position  upon  the  currency  question  and  upon 
the  finances  of  the  country  has  been  sound  and  conservative 
from  his  first  entrance  into  public  life.  He  always  labored  to 
bring  the  greenback  up  to  par  with  gold,  and  fought  the  plan, 
when  introduced  into  Congress,  of  retiring  the  greenback 
while  its  value  was  depreciated.  He  favored  the  contraction 
of  the  greenback  issue  as  soon  as  it  could  be  safely  and 
honestly  effected ;  opposed  inflation  in  all  forms ;  and  coun- 
seled economy  in  every  department  of  the  government. 
While  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Appropriations,  it  was 
his  practice  to  scrutinize  every  item  introduced  into  a  bill, 
and  his  policy  to  reduce  as  many  as  would  bear  reduction. 
He  had  several  forensic  tilts  with  General  Logan  on  his 
attempts  to  cut  down  the  cost  of  maintaining  the  army. 

Mr.  Elaine's  anticipations  regarding  the  then  impending 
administration  of  General  Grant  were  thus  expressed  in  the 
House  on  December  10,  1868 : 

"  General  Grant's  administration  will  have  high  vantage 


ELAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  181 

ground  from  the  day  of  its  inauguration.  Its  responsibili- 
ties will  indeed  be  great ;  its  power  will  be  large ;  its  oppor- 
tunities will  be  splendid ;  and  to  meet  them  all  we  have  a 
tried  and  true  man,  who  adds  to  his  other  great  elements  of 
strength  that  of  perfect  trust  and  confidence  on  the  part  of 
the  people.  And  to  reassure  ourselves  of  his  executive 
character,  if  reassurance  were  necessary,  let  us  remember 
that  great  military  leaders  have  uniformly  proved  the  wisest, 
firmest,  and  best  of  civil  rulers.  William  III,  Charles  XII, 
Frederick  of  Prussia,  are  not  more  conspicuous  instances  in 
monarchial  governments  than  Washington,  Jackson,  and  Tay- 
lor have  proved  in  our  own.  Whatever,  therefore,  may  lie 
before  us  in  the  untrodden  and  often  beclouded  path  of  the 
future — whether  it  be  financial  embarrassment,  or  domestic 
trouble  of  another  and  more  serious  type,  or  misunderstand- 
ings with  foreign  nations,  or  the  extension  of  our  flag  and 
our  sovereignty  over  insular  or  continental  possessions, 
north  or  south,  that  fate  or  fortune  may  peacefully  offer  to 
our  ambition — let  us  believe  with  all  confidence  that  Gen- 
eral Grant's  administration  will  meet  every  exigency,  with 
the  courage,  the  ability,  and  the  conscience  which  American 
nationality  and  Christian  civilization  demand." 

March  4,  1869,  Mr.  Elaine  was  elected  Speaker  of  the 
House,  being  then  in  his  thirty-ninth  year.  The  vote 
stood :  For  James  G.  Elaine,  of  Maine,  135  votes ;  for 
Michael  C.  Kerr,  of  Indiana,  57  votes. 

Upon  taking  the  chair,  he  addressed  the  House  as 
follows  : 

"  Gentlemen  of  the  House  of  Representatives :  I  thank  you 
profoundly  for  the  great  honor  which  you  have  just  con- 


182  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

ferred  upon  me.  The  gratification  which  this  signal  mark  of 
your  confidence  brings  to  me  finds  its  only  drawback  in  the 
diffidence  with  which  I  assume  the  weighty  duties  devolved 
upon  me.  Succeeding  to  a  chair  made  illustrious  by  the 
services  of  such  eminent  statesmen  and  skilled  parliamen- 
tarians as  Clay,  and  Stevenson,  and  Polk,  and  Winthrop, 
and  Banks,  and  Grow,  and  Colfax,  I  may  well  distrust  my 
ability  to  meet  the  just  expectations  of  those  who  have 
shown  me  such  marked  partiality.  But  relying,  gentlemen, 
on  my  honest  purpose  to  perform  all  my  duties  faithfully 
and  fearlessly,  and  trusting  in  a  large  measure  to  the  indul- 
gence which  I  am  sure  you  will  always  extend  to  me,  I 
shall  hope  to  retain,  as  I  have  secured,  your  confidence,  your 
kindly  regard,  and  your  generous  support. 

"The  Forty-first  Congress  assembles  at  an  auspicious 
period  in  the  history  of  our  government.  The  splendid  and 
impressive  ceremonial  which  we  have  just  witnessed  in 
another  part  of  the  Capitol  appropriately  symbolizes  the 
triumphs  of  the  past  and  the  hopes  of  the  future.  A  great 
chieftain,  whose  sword  at  the  head  of  gallant  and  victorious 
armies  has  saved  the  Republic  from  dismemberment  and 
ruin,  has  been  fitly  called  to  the  highest  civic  honor  which 
a  grateful  people  can  bestow.  Sustained  by  a  Congress  that 
so  ably  represents  the  loyalty,  the  patriotism,  and  the  per- 
sonal worth  of  the  Nation,  the  President  this  day  inaugu- 
rated will  assure  to  the  country  an  administration  of  purity, 
fidelity,  and  prosperity ;  an  era  of  liberty  regulated  by  law, 
and  of  law  thoroughly  inspired  with  liberty. 

"Congratulating  you,  gentlemen,  upon  the  happy  aug- 
uries of  the  day,  and  invoking  the  gracious  blessing  of  Al- 


ELAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  183 

mighty  God  on  the  arduous  and  responsible  labors  before 
you,  I  am  now  ready  to  take  the  oath  of  office  and  enter 
upon  the  discharge,  of  the  duties  to  which  you  have  called 
me."  [Applause.] 

The  oath  of  office  was  then  administered  to  the  Speaker- 
elect  by  Hon.  Elihu  B.  Washburne,  of  Illinois,  the  senior 
member  of  the  body. 

On  the  3d  of  March,  1871,  the  Forty-first  Congress  ex- 
pired. On  that  day  Mr.  S.  S.  Cox,  of  New  York,  offered  the 
following  resolution : 

"  Resolved,  in  view  of  the  difficulties  involved  in  the  per- 
formance of  the  duties  of  the  presiding  officer  of  this  House, 
and  of  the  able,  courteous,  dignified,  and  impartial  discharge 
of  those  duties  by  the  Hon.  J.  G.  Elaine  during  the  present 
Congress,  it  is  eminently  becoming  that  our  thanks  be  and 
they  are  hereby  tendered  to  the  Speaker  thereof." 

The  resolution  was  agreed  to.  Speaker  Elaine,  in  ad- 
journing the  House  at  noon  of  that  day,  said: 

"  Gentlemen  of  the  House  of  Representatives  :     Our  labors 
are   at  an   end;    but   I    delay    the    final  adjournment  long 
enough  to  return  my  most  profound  and  respectful  thanks  ' 
for  the  commendation  which  you  have  been  pleased  to  be- 
stow upon  my  official  course  and  conduct. 

"  In  a  deliberative  body  of  this  character  a  presiding 
officer  is  fortunate  if  he  retains  the  confidence  and  steady 
support  of  his  political  associates.  Beyond  that  you  give 
me  the  assurance  that  I  have  earned  the  respect  and  good- 
will of  those  from  whom  I  am  separated  by  party  lines. 
Your  expressions  are  most  grateful  to  me,  and  are  most 
gratefully  acknowledged. 


184  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

"  The  Congress  whose  existence  closes  with  this  hour  en- 
joys a  memorable  distinction.  It  is  the  first  in  which  all 
the  States  have  been  represented  on  this  floor  since  the 
baleful  winter  that  preceded  our  late  bloody  war.  Ten 
years  have  passed  since  then — years  of  trial  and  of  triumph ; 
years  of  wild  destruction  and  years  of  careful  rebuilding; 
and  after  all,  and  as  the  result  of  all,  the  national  govern- 
ment is  here  to-day,  united,  strong,  proud,  defiant,  and  just, 
with  a  territorial  area  vastly  expanded,  and  with  three  ad- 
ditional States  represented  on  the  folds  of  its  flag.  For 
these  prosperous  fruits  of  our  great  struggle  let  us  humbly 
give  thanks  to  the  God  of  battles  and  to  the  Prince  of 
peace. 

"And  now,  gentlemen,  with  one  more  expression  of  the 
obligation  I  feel  for  the  considerate  kindness  with  which 
you  have  always  sustained  me,  I  perform  the  only  remain- 
ing duty  of  my  office,  in  declaring,  as  I  now  do,  that  the 
House  of  Representatives  of  the  Forty-first  Congress  is  ad- 
journed without  day."  [Great  Applause.] 

When  the  Forty-second  Congress  convened  on  the  4th 
of  March,  1871,  Mr.  Blaine  was  re-elected  Speaker  of  the 
House  of  Representatives,  the  vote  standing  as  follows : 

James  G.  Blaine,  of  Maine,  received  126  votes.  Geo. 
W.  Morgan,  of  Ohio,  received  92  votes. 

After  Mr.  Blaine  had  been  conducted  to  the  chair  he  ad- 
dressed the  House  as  follows : 

"  Gentlemen :  The  speakership  of  the  American  House  of 
Representatives  has  always  been  esteemed  as  an  enviable 
honor.  A  re-election  to  the  position  carries  with  it  peculiar 
gratification,  in  that  it  implies  an  approval  of  past  official 


ELAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  185 

bearing.  For  this  great  mark  of  your  confidence  I  can  but 
return  to  you  my  sincerest  thanks,  with  the  assurance  of 
my  utmost  devotion  to  the  duties  which  you  call  upon  me 
to  discharge. 

"  Chosen  by  the  party  representing  the  political  majority 
in  this  House,  the  Speaker  owes  a  faithful  allegiance  to  the 
principles  and  the  policy  of  that  party.  But  he  will  fall  far 
below  the  honorable  requirements  of  his  station  if  he  fails  to 
give  to  the  minority  their  full  rights  under  the  rules  which 
he  is  called  upon  to  administer.  The  successful  working  of 
our  grand  system  of  government  depends  largely  upon  the 
vigilance  of  party  organizations,  and  the  wholesome  legisla- 
tion which  this  House  produces  and  perfects  is  that  which 
results  from  opposing  forces  mutually  eager  and  watchful 
and  well-nigh  balanced  in  numbers. 

"  The  Forty-second  Congress  assembles  at  a  period  of 
general  content,  happiness,  and  prosperity  throughout  the 
land.  Under  the  wise  administration  of  the  national  gov- 
ernment peace  reigns  in  all  our  borders,  and  the  only  serious 
misunderstanding  with  any  foreign  power  is,  we  may  hope, 
at  this  moment  in  process  of  honorable,  cordial,  and  lasting 
adjustment.  We  are  fortunate  in  meeting  at  such  a  time, 
in  representing  such  constituencies,  in  legislating  for  such  a 
country. 

"  Trusting,  gentlemen,  that  our  official  intercourse  may 
be  free  from  all  personal  asperity,  believing  that  all  our  la- 
bors will  eventuate  for  the  public  good,  and  craving  the 
blessing  of  Him  without  whose  aid  we  labor  in  vain,  I  am 
now  ready  to  proceed  with  the  further  organization  of  the 
House ;  and,  as  the  first  step  thereto,  I  will  myself  take  the 


186  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOG  AN. 

oath  prescribed  by  the  Constitution  and  laws."  [Loud  Ap- 
plause.] 

The  oath  of  office  was  then  administered  by  Hon.  H.  L. 
Dawes,  of  Massachusetts,  who  had  served  longest  continu- 
ously as  a  member  of  the  House. 

From  the  first  the  success  of  Mr.  Elaine  as  a  Speaker  was 
conspicuous.  Well  versed  in  parliamentary  law,  his  rulings 
were  succicnt  and  impartial.  Within  twelve  days  after  tak- 
ing his  seat  occurred  the  memorable  contest  on  the  floor  of 
the  House  between  the  Speaker  and  Benjamin  F.  Butler,  of 
Massachusetts.  The  subject  under  consideration  was  a  reso- 
lution for  a  committee  of  inquiry  on  alleged  outrages  in  the 
Southern  States.  An  amendment  to  the  resolution  had  been 
added  in  the  committee  at  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Blaine,  and 
this  fact  coming  to  the  knowledge  of  Mr.  Butler,  the  latter 
gentleman  made  it  a  basis  of  one  of  his  violent  and  rather 
unscrupulous  attacks.  Hereupon  the  Speaker  called  William 
A.  Wheeler,  of  New  York,  to  the  chair,  and  entered  the 
arena  against  his  wily  and  able  antagonist.  The  member 
from  Massachusetts  began  the  onset  by  saying : 

"  What  would  the  gentlman  have  thought  of  me  and  ten 
of  my  associates  if  we  had  come  into  the  House  after  the 
caucus  had  made  their  nomination  for  Speaker,  and  had  voted 
to  throw  the  speakership  into  the  hands  of  the  minority  of 
this  House  as  might  have  been  done?  It  is  a  caucus  called 
merely  for  the  purpose  of  nominating  a  candidate  for  Speaker." 

MR.  PETERS — I  should  have  supposed  you  had  some 
devilish  design  underneath.  [Laughter.] 

MR.  BUTLER,  of  Massachusetts — That  is  exactly  what  I 
think  about  this;  you  and  I  agree  exactly. 


ELAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  187 

MR.  ELAINE,  the  Speaker  (Mr.  Wheeler,  in  the  chair) — I 
I  desire  to  ask  the  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  (Mr. 
Butler),  whether  he.  denies  to  me  the  right  to  have  drawn 
that  resolution  ? 

MR.  BUTLER,  of  Massachusetts — I  have  made  no  asser- 
tion on  that  subject,  one  way  or  the  other. 

MR.  BLAINE — Did  not  the  gentleman  distinctly  know  that 
I  drew  it? 

MR.  BUTLER,  of  Massachusetts — No,  sir. 

MR.  BLAINE — Did  I  not  take  it  to  the  gentleman  and  read 
it  to  him  ? 

MR.  BUTLER,  of  Massachusetts — Yes,  sir. 

MR.  BLAINE — Did  I  not  show  him  tjie  manuscript  ? 

MR.  BUTLER,  of  Massachusetts — Yes,  sir. 

MR.  BLAINE — In  my  own  hand-writing  ? 

MR.  BUTLER,  of  Massachusetts — No,  sir. 

MR.  BLAINE — And  at  his  suggestion  I  added  these  words : 
"  and  the  expenses  of  said  committee  shall  be  paid  from  the 
contingent  fund  of  the  House  of  Representatives"  [applause], 
and  the  fact  that  ways  and  means  were  wanted  to  pay  the 
expenses  was  the  only  objection  he  made  to  it. 

MR.  BUTLER,  of  Massachusetts — What  was  the  answer 
the  gentleman  made  ?  I  suppose  I  may  ask  that,  now  that 
the  Speaker  has  come  upon  the  floor. 

MR.  BLAIXE — The  answer  was  that  I  immediately  wrote 
the  amendment  providing  for  the  payment  of  the  expenses 
of  the  committee. 

MR.  BUTLER,  of  Massachusetts — What  was  my  answer  ? 
Was  it  not,  that  under  no  circumstances  would  I  have  any- 
thing to  do  with  it,  being  bound  by  the  action  of  the  caucus? 


188  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

MR.  ELAINE — No,  sir ;  the  answer  was  that  under  no  cir- 
cumstances would  you  serve  as  chairman. 

MR.  BUTLER,  of  Massachusetts — Or  have  anything  to  do 
with  the  resolution. 

MR.  ELAINE — There  are  two  hundred  and  twenty-four 
members  of  the  House  of  Representatives.  A  committee  of 
thirteen  can  be  found  without  the  gentleman  from  Massachu- 
setts being  on  it.  His  service  is  not  essential  to  the  con- 
stitution of  the  committee. 

MR.  BUTLER,   of  Massachusetts — Why  did   you   not  find 
such  a  committee,  then  ? 

MR.  ELAINE — Because  I  knew  very  well,  that  if  I  omitted 
the  appointment  of. the  gentleman,  it  would  be  heralded 
throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  country  by  the 
claquers  who  have  so  industriously  disturbed  this  letter  this 
morning,  that  the  speaker  had  packed  the  committee,  as  the 
gentleman  said  he  would,  with  "  weak-kneed  Republicans," 
who  would  not  go  into  an  investigation  vigorously,  as  he 
would.  That  was  the  reason  [applause].  So  that  the  chair 
laid  the  responsibility  upon  the  gentleman  of  declining  the 
appointment. 

MR.  BUTLER,  of  Massachusetts — I  knew  that  was  the  trick 
of  the  chair. 

MR.  ELAINE — Ah,  the  "trick"!  we  know  what  the  gentle- 
man meant  by  the  word  "trick".  I  am  very  glad  to  know 
that  the  "  trick "  was  successful. 

MR.  BUTLER,  of  Massachusetts — No  doubt. 

MR.  ELAINE — It  is  this  "trick"  which  places  the  gentle- 
man from  Massachusetts  on  his  responsibility  before  the 
country. 


ELAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  189 

MR.  BUTLER,  of  Massachusetts — Exactly. 

MR.  ELAINE — Wholly. 

MR.  BUTLER,  of  .Massachusetts — Wholly. 

MR.  BLAINE — Now,  sir;  the  gentleman  from  Massachu- 
setts talks  about  the  coercion  to  vote  for  the  resolution.  I 
do  not  know  what  any  one  of  them  may  have  to  say;  but 
if  there  be  here  to-day  a  single  gentleman  who  has  given  to 
the  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  the  intimation  that  he  felt 
coerced,  that  he  was  in  any  way  restrained  from  free  action,  let 
him  get  up  now  and  speak,  or  "  forever  after  hold  his  peace." 

MR.  BUTLER,  of  Massachusetts — Oh,  yes. 

MR.  BLAINE — The  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  says  in 
his  letter : 

"Having  been  appointed  against  my  wishes,  expressed  both 
publicly  and  privately,  by  the  speaker,  as  chairman  of  a  committee 
to  investigate  the  state  of  affairs  in  the  South,  ordered  to-day 
by  Democratic  votes,  against  the  most  earnest  protest  of  more  than 
two-thirds  of  the  majority  of  the  Republicans  of  the  House." 

MR.  BUTLER,  of  Massachusetts — Yes,  sir. 

MR.  BLAINE — This  statement  is  so  bald  and  groundless 
that  I  do  not  know  what  reply  to  make  to  it.  It  is  made 
in  the  face  of  the  fact  that  on  the  roll-call  fifty-eight  Repub- 
licans voted  for  the  resolution,  and  forty-nine  besides  the 
gentleman  from  Massachusetts  against  it.  I  deny  that  the 
gentleman  has  the  right  to  speak  for  any  member  who  voted 
for  it,  unless  it  may  be  the  gentleman  from  Tennessee  (Mr. 
Maynard),  who  voted  for  it  for  the  purpose,  probably,  of 
moving  a  reconsideration,  a  very  common,  a  very  justifiable, 
and  proper  course  whenever  any  gentleman  chooses  to  adopt 
it.  I  am  not  criticising  it  at  all,  but  if  there  be  any  one  of 


190         LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOO  AN. 

the  fifty-eight  gentlemen  who  voted  for  the  resolution  under 
coercion  I  would  like  the  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  to 
designate  him. 

MR.  BUTLER,  of  Massachusetts — I  am  not  here  to  retail 
private  conversations. 

MR.  ELAINE — Oh,  no;  but  you  will  distribute  throughout 
the  entire  country  unfounded  calumnies,  purporting  to  rest 
upon  assertions  made  in  private  conversation,  which,  when 
called  for,  can  not  be  verified. 

MR.  BUTLER,  of  Massachusetts — Pardon  me,  sir,  I  said 
there  was  a  caucus. 

MR.  BLAINE — I  hope  God  will  pardon  you ;  but  you 
ought  not  to  ask  me  to  do  it!  [Laughter.] 

MR.  BUTLER,  of  Massachusetts — I  will  ask  God,  and  not 
you. 

MR.  BLAINE — I  am  glad  the  gentleman  will. 

MR.  BUTLER,  of  Massachusetts — I  have  no  favors  to  ask 
of  the  devil,  and  let  me  say  that  the  caucus  agreed  upon  a 
definite  mode  of  action. 

MR.  BLAINE — The  caucus?  Now,  let  me  say  here  and 
now  that  the  chairman  of  that  caucus,  sitting  on  my  right, 
"  a  chevalier "  in  legislation,  "  sans  peur  et  sans  reproche"  the 
gentleman  from  Michigan  [Mr.  Blair]  stated,  as  a  man  of 
honor,  as  he  is,  that  he  was  bound  to  say  officially  from 
the  chair,  that  it  was  not  considered  and  could  not  be  con- 
sidered binding  upon  gentlemen ;  and  more  than  that,  talk 
about  tricks,  why,  the  very  infamy  of  political  trickery 
never  compassed  a  design  so  foolish  and  so  wicked  as  to 
bring  together  a  caucus  and  attempt  to  pledge  them  to  the 
support  of  measures  which  might  violate  not  only  the  politi- 


ELAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  191 

cal  principles  but  the  religious  faith  of  men,  to  the  support 
of  a  bill  drawn  by  the  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  [Mr. 
Butler],  which  might  violate  the  conscientious  scruples  of 
men,  and  yet,  forsooth,  he  comes  in  here  and  declares  that 
whatever  a  caucus  may  determine  upon,  however  hastily, 
however  crudely,  however  wrongfully,  you  must  support  it ! 
Why,  even  in  the  worst  days  of  the  Democracy,  when  the 
gentleman  himself  was  in  the  front  rank  of  the  worst  wing 
of  it,  when  was  it  ever  attempted  to  say  that  a  majority  of 
a  party  caucus  could  bind  men  upon  measures  that  involved 
questions  of  constitutional  law,  of  personal  honor,  of  religious 
scruple  ? 

The  gentleman  asked  what  would  have  been  done  ?  He 
asked  my  colleague  [Mr.  Peters] 'what  would  have  been 
done  in  the  case  of  members  of  a  party  voting  against  the 
caucus  nominee  for  Speaker.  I  understood  that  was  intended 
a  thrust  at  myself.  Caucus  nominations  of  officers  have  al- 
ways been  held  as  binding.  But  just  here  let  me  say  that  if 
a  minority  did  not  vote  against  the  decision  of  the  caucus  that 
nominated  me  for  Speaker,  in  my  judgment,  it  was  not  the 
fault  of  the  gentleman  from  Massachusetts.  [Applause.] 
If  the  requisite  number  could  have  been  found  to  have  gone 
over  to  the  despised  Nazarenes  on  the  opposite  side,  that 
gentleman  would  have  led  them  as  gallantly  as  he  did  the 
forces  in  the  Charleston  Convention.  [Renewed  applause 
and  laughter.] 

MR.  BUTLER,  of  Massachusetts — Mr.  Speaker — 

MR.  BLAINE — I  have  the  floor ;  I  do  not  very  often  ask  it. 

MR.  BUTLER,  of  Massachusetts — Let  not  your  conscience 
accuse  you. 


192  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

MR.  ELAINE — Mr.  Speaker,  in  old  times  it  was  the  or- 
dinary habit  of  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives 
to  take  part  in  debate.  The  custom  has  fallen  into  disuse. 
For  one,  I  am  very  glad  that  it  has ;  for  one,  I  approve  of 
the  conclusion  that  forbids  it.  The  speaker  should,  with 
consistent  fidelity  to  his  own  party,  be  the  impartial  admin- 
istrator of  the  rules  of  the  House,  and  a  constant  participa- 
tion in  the  discussion  of  members  would  take  from  him  that 
appearance  of  impartiality  which  it  is  so  important  to  main- 
tain in  rulings  of  the  chair.  But  at  the  same  time  I  despise 
and  denounce  the  insolence  of  the  gentleman  from  Massachu- 
setts when  he  attempts  to  say  that  the  representative  from 
the  third  district  of  the  State  of  Maine  has  no  right  to  frame 
a  resolution,  has  no  right  to  seek  that  under  the  rules  that 
resolution  shall  be  adopted;  has  no  right  to  ask  the  judg- 
ment of  the  House  upon  that  resolution.  Why,  even  the 
insolence  of  that  gentleman  himself  never  reached  that  sub- 
lime height  before.  [Applause.] 

And  that  is  the  whole  extent  of  my  offending.  That  I 
wrote  a  resolution,  that  I  took  it  to  various  gentlemen  on 
this  side  of  the  House,  that  I  said  to  gentlemen  on  the  other 
side  of  the  House,  "  This  is  a  resolution  on  which  you  ought 
not  to  fillibuster ;  it  is  a  resolution  demanding  a  fair,  impar- 
tial investigation,  and  under  the  rules  I  desire  that  this  reso- 
lution may  be  offered,  and  my  colleague  (Mr.  Peters)  will 
offer  it."  And  then  the  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  (Mr. 
Butler)  telegraphs,  he  knows  to  how  many  papers  through 
the  whole  United  States,  for  doubtless  his  letters  will  be 
found  in  extenso  wherever  he  could  get  it  inserted  in  this 
morning's  journals,  that  this  was  a  "legislative  trick." 


ELAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  193 

MR.  BUTLER,  of  Massachusetts — And  I  repeat  it  now. 

MR.  ELAINE — There  are  certain  repetitions  which  do  not 
amount  to  slander4  and  the  gentleman  may  repeat  every 
thing  in  that  connection,  as  his  colleague  [Mr.  Davis],  very 
well  says,  "  Except  the  truth." 

MR.  BUTLER — I  did  not  hear  my  colleague  say  that. 

MR.  BLAINE — The  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  [Mr. 
Butler],  in  his  remarkable  letter,  uses  this  language: 

"Because,  the  very  resolution  which  authorized  the  committee 
was  so  framed,  and  in  my  belief,  purposely,  in  the  interests  of  the 
Democratic  party,  that  such  committee  can  not  report,  under  the 
rules  of  the  House,  in  the  face  of  the  Democratic  opposition,  and 
by  their  permission,  in  more  than  a  year  from  this  time,  the  usual 
power  not  being  inserted  in  it l  to  report  at  any  time.' " 

The  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  is  a  very  astute  law- 
yer, but  it  has  fallen  under  my  observation  that  he  is  ex- 
tremely ignorant  of  the  rules  of  this  House.  Had  the  res- 
olution contained  those  words  it  would  have  been  tantamount 
to  suspending  the  rules,  and  one  objection  would  have  pre- 
vented its  coming  in.  What  does  the  resolution  say  ?  That 
the  committee  shall  be  appointed  with  power  to  report  in 
December.  A  report  from  the  meeting  of  Congress  during 
the  entire  month  of  December  shall  be  in  order  at  any  time 
the  committee  may  wish  to  make  report. 

Eight  and  a  half  months  intervene  between  now  and  De- 
cember for  the  committee's  labors,  and  they  have  one  full 
month  with  the  privilege  to  report  at  any  time,  and  yet  the 
gentleman  says  the  resolution  was  purposely  so  framed  as 
to  exclude  the  committee  from  the  power  to  report  at  all. 
It  was  purposely  framed  and  carried  over  the  gentleman's 

13 


194          LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

point  of  order.  It  was  to  avoid  that  point  of  order  I  omit- 
ted those  words,  presuming  that  if  the  committee  got 
through  their  labors  at  the  end  of  nine  months,  one  whole 
month  at  the  beginning  of  the  session  would  be  ample  in 
which  to  make  their  report. 

I  am  admonished  by  the  gentlemen  around  me  of  a  fact, 
with  which  I  am  myself  familiar,  that  the  power  to  report  at 
any  time  does  not  always  carry  with  it  the  exercise  of  that 
power.  The  gentleman  himself  has  been  chairman  during 
the  entire  Congress  of  a  committee  empowered  to  report  at 
any  time  on  this  very  identical  subject,  and  on  other  sub- 
jects committed  to  it,  and  the  members  of  that  committee 
will  say  whether  the  gentleman  always  exercised  his  full 
power  under  the  rules,  and  whether,  if  the  power  to  report 
at  any  time  had  been  given  to  that  gentleman,  as  a  chair- 
man to  this  committee,  and  had  he  accepted  the  appointment 
he  might  not  have  construed  it  as  he  has  construed  it  for 
nearly  two  years  on  the  reconstruction  committee,  to  be  the 
power  to  report  at  no  time  ? 

Now,  Mr.  Speaker,  nobody  regrets  more  sincerely  than 
I  do  any  occurrence  which  calls  me  to  take  the  floor.  On 
questions  of  propriety  I  appeal  to  members  on  both  sides 
of  the  House,  and  they  will  bear  me  witness  that  the  circu- 
lation of  this  letter  in  the  morning  prints,  its  distribution 
throughout  the  land  by  telegraph,  the  laying  it  upon  the 
desks  of  members,  was  intended  to  be  by  the  gentleman 
from  Massachusetts,  not  openly  and  boldly,  but  covertly — I 
will  not  use  a  stronger  phase — an  insult  to  the  Speaker  of 
this  House.  As  such  I  resent  it.  I  denounce  the  letter  in 
all  its  essential  statements,  and  in  all  its  misstatements,  and 


ELAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  195 

in  all  its  mean  inferences  and  meaner  inuendoes.  I  de- 
nounce the  letter  as  groundless,  without  justification,  and 
the  gentleman  himself,  I  trust,  will  live  to  see  the  day  when 
he  will  be  ashamed  of  having  written  it. 

When  the  second  session  of  the  Forty-second  Congress 
adjourned,  June  8,  1872,  Mr.  Niblack,  of  Indiana,  took  the 
chair  temporarily,  when  Mr.  Samuel  J.  Randall,  of  Penn- 
sylvania, submitted  the  following  resolution : 

"  Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  this  House  are  due,  and  hereby 
tendered  to  James  G.  Blaine,  Speaker  of  the  House,  for  the  able, 
prompt,  and  impartial  manner  in  which  he  has  discharged  the 
duties  of  his  office  during  the  present  session." 

The  resolution  was  unanimously  adopted. 

On  the  3d  of  March,  1873,  Mr.  Voorhees,  of  Indiana, 
spoke  as  follows,  Hon.  Wm.  A.  Wheeler,  of  New  York,  in 
the  Chair :  "  I  rise  to  present  a  matter  to  the  House  in 
which  I  am  sure  every  member  will  concur.  In  doing  so  I 
perform  the  most  pleasant  duty  of  my  entire  service  on  this 
floor.  I  offer  the  following  resolution.  It  has  the  sincere 
sanction  of  my  head  and  of  my  heart.  I  moVe  its  adoption  :" 

The  clerk  read  as  follows : 

"  Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  this  House  are  due,  and  are 
hereby  tendered  to  Hon.  James  G.  Blaine,  for  the  distinguished 
ability,  and  impartiality  with  which  he  has  discharged  the  duty  of 
Speaker  ot  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  Forty-second 
Congress." 

The  resolution  was  adopted  unanimously. 

On  the  same  day,  in  adjourning  the  House  sine  die,  Mr. 
Blaine  spoke  as  follows: 

"  Gentlemen :  For  the  forty-second  time,  since  the  Federal 
Government  was  organized,  its  great  representative  body 


196  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

stands  on  the  eve  of  dissolution.  The  final  word  which 
separates  us  is  suspended  for  a  moment  that  I  may  return 
my  sincere  thanks  for  the  kind  expressions  respecting  my 
official  conduct,  which,  without  division  of  party,  you  have 
caused  to  be  entered  on  your  journal. 

"At  the  close  of  four  years'  service  in  this  responsible 
and  often  trying  position,  it  is  a  source  of  honorable  pride 
that  I  have  so  administered  my  trust  as  to  secure  the  confi- 
dence and  approbation  of  both  sides  of  the  House.  It  would 
not  be  strange  if,  in  the  necessarily  rapid  discharge  of  the 
daily  business,  I  should  have  erred  in  some  of  the  decisions 
made  on  points,  and  often  without  precedent  to  guide  me. 
It  has  been  my  good  fortune,  however,  to  be  always  sus- 
tained by  the  House,  and  in  no  single  instance  to  have  had 
a  ruling  reversed.  I  advert  to  this  gratifying  fact,  to  quote 
the  language  of  the  most  eloquent  of  my  predecessors,  'In 
no  vain  spirit  of  exhalation,  but  as  furnishing  a  powerful 
motive  for  undissembled  gratitude. 

"  And  now,  gentlemen,  with  a  hearty  God  bless  you  all, 
I  discharge  my  only  remaining  duty  in  declaring  that  the 
House  of  Representatives  for  the  Forty-second  Congress  is 
adjourned  without  day."  [Applause.] 

On  the  second  day  of  December,  1873,  Mr.  Blaine  was 
chosen  Speaker  of  the  House  for  the  third  time,  receiving 
189  votes  to  80  votes  cast  for  all  others.  After  being  con- 
ducted to  the  chair  by  Mr.  Maynard,  of  Tennessee,  and  Mr. 
Wood,  of  New  York,  he  addressed  the  House  as  follows : 

"  Gentlemen  of  the  House  of  Representatives :  The  vote 
this  moment  announced  by  the  clerk,  is  such  an  expression 
of  your  confidence  as  calls  for  my  sincerest  thanks.  To  be 


ELAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  197 

chosen  Speaker  of  the  American  House  of  Representatives 
is  always  an  honorable  distinction;  to  be  chosen  a  third 
time  enhances  the -honor  more  than  three-fold;  to  be  chosen 
by  the  largest  body  that  ever  assembled  in  the  Capitol  im- 
poses a  burden  of  responsibility  which  only  your  indulgent 
kindness  could  embolden  me  to  assume. 

"  The  first  occupant  of  this  Chair  presided  over  a  House 
of  sixty-five  members,  representing  a  population  far  below 
the  present  aggregate  of  the  State  of  New  York.  At  that 
time  in  the  whole  United  States  there  were  not  fifty  thous- 
and civilized  inhabitants  to  be  found  one  hundred  miles  dis- 
tant from  the  flow  of  the  Atlantic  tide.  To-day,  gentle- 
men, a  large  body  of  you  come  from  beyond  that  limit,  and 
represent  districts  then  peopled  only  by  the  Indian  and  ad- 
venturous frontiersman.  The  National  Government  is  not 
yet  as  old  as  many  of  its  citizens ;  but  in  this  brief  span 
of  time,  less  than  one  lengthened  life,  it  has,  under  God's 
providence,  extended  its  power  until  a  continent  is  the  field 
of  its  empire  and  attests  the  majesty  of  its  law. 

"With  the  growth  of  new  States  and  the  resulting 
changes  in  the  centers  of  population,  new  interests  are  de- 
veloped, rival  to  the  old,  but  by  no  means  hostile;  diverse, 
but  not  antagonistic.  Nay,  rather  are  all  these  interests  in 
harmony;  and  the  true  science  of  just  government  is  to 
give  to  each  its  full  and  fair  play,  oppressing  none  by  undue 
exaction,  favoring  none  by  undue  privilege.  It  is  this  great 
lesson  which  our  daily  experience  is  teaching  us,  binding  us 
together  more  closely,  making  our  mutual  dependence  more 
manifest,  and  causing  us  to  feel,  whether  we  live  in  the 
North  or  in  the  South,  in  the  East  or  in  the  West,  that 


198  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOO  AN. 

we    have   indeed   but  '  one    country,  one  Constitution,    one 
destiny.'" 

At  the  expiration  of  the  Forty-third  Congress  on  the 
third  day  of  March,  1875,  Mr.  Potter  submitted  the  follow- 
ing resolution : 

"  Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  this  House  are  due,  and  are  here- 
by tendered,  to  Hon.  James  G.  Elaine,  Speaker  of  the  House  of 
Representatives,  for  the  impartiality,  efficiency,  and  distinguished 
ability  with  which  he  has  discharged  the  trying  and  arduous  duties 
of  his  office  during  the  Forty-third  Congress." 

The  resolution  was  unanimously  agreed  to. 

On  the  same  day,  when  the  clock  indicated  that  the 
hour  for  the  dissolution  of  the  Forty-third  Congress  had 
arrived,  Speaker  Blaine  delivered  the  following  valedictory 
address : 

"  Gentlemen :  I  close  with  this  hour  a  six  years'  service 
as  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives — a  period  sur- 
passed in  length  by  but  two  of  my  predecessors,  and  equaled 
by  only  two  others.  The  rapid  mutations  of  personal  and 
political  fortunes  in  this  country  have  limited  the  great  ma- 
jority of  those  who  have  occupied  this  Chair  to  shorter 
terms  of  office. 

"  It  would  be  the  gravest  insensibility  to  the  honors  and 
responsibilities  of  life,  not  to  be  deeply  touched  by  so  signal 
a  mark  of  public  esteem  as  that  which  I  have  thrice  re- 
ceived at  the  hands  of  my  political  associates.  I  desire  in 
this  last  moment  to  renew  to  them,  one  and  all,  my  thanks 
and  my  gratitude. 

"To  those  from  whom  I  differ  in  my  party  relations — 
the  minority  of  this  House — I  tender  my  acknowledgements 


ELAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  199 

for  the  generous  courtesy  with  which  they  have  treated  me. 
By  one  of  those  sudden  and  decisive  changes  which  distin- 
guish populaf  institutions,  and  which  conspicuously  mark  a 
free  people,  that  minority  is  transformed  in  the  ensuing 
Congress  to  the  governing  power  of  the  House.  How- 
ever it  might  possibly  have  been  under  other  circumstances, 
that  event  renders  these  words  my  farewell  to  the  Chair. 

"The  speakership  of  the  American  House  of  Represen- 
tatives is  a  post  of  honor,  of  dignity,  of  power,  of  respon- 
sibility. Its  duties  are  at  once  complex  and  continuous ; 
they  are  both  onerous  and  delicate ;  they  are  performed  in 
the  broad  light  of  day,  under  the  eye  of  the  whole  people, 
subject  at  all  times  to  the  closest  observation,  and  always 
attended  with  the  sharpest  criticism.  I  think  no  other  offi- 
cial is  held  to  such  instant  and  such  rigid  accountability. 
Parliamentary  rulings,  in  their  very  nature,  are  peremptory : 
almost  absolute  in  authority  and  instantaneous  in  effect. 
They  can  not  always  be  enforced  in  such  a  way  as  to  win 
applause  or  secure  popularity;  but  I  am  sure  that  no  man 
of  any  party  who  is  worthy  to  fill  this  chair  will  ever  see 
a  dividing  line  between  duty  and  policy. 

"  Thanking  you  once  more,  and  thanking  you  most  cor- 
dially for  the  honorable  testimonial  you  have  placed  on  rec- 
ord to  my  credit,  I  perform  my  only  remaining  duty  in 
declaring  that  the  Forty-third  Congress  has  reached  its  con- 
stitutional limit,  and  that  the  House  of  Representatives 
stands  adjourned  without  day."  [Applause.] 

The  Forty-fourth  Congress  differed  in  hue  from  several 
of  its  illustrious  predecessors.  The  Democracy  had  revived 
spasmodically  and  achieved  a  majority  in  the  National 


200  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

House.  At  the  date  of  convening,  December  6,  1875, 
Michael  C.  Kerr,  of  Indiana,  was  elected  Speaker,  and  Mr. 
Elaine  took  his  position  upon  the  floor  as  a  recognized 
leader  of  the  Republican  minority. 

It  was  natural  that  the  civil  war  should  entail  an  infinity 
of  bitter  memories.     It   still   remains  to  be  seen  how  lontr 

C 

the  passions  enkindled  by  that  strife  will  continue  to  burn. 
Certain  it  is  that  the  close  of  the  first  decade  after  the  end 
of  the  strife  and  the  collapse  of  the  rebellion  still  found  the 
American  heart  almost  as  inflammable  as  ever  to  the  recol- 
lections of  the  conflict.  The  fact  that  the  opening  of  the 
Forty-third  Congress  witnessed  the  advent  of  a  great  num- 
ber of  the  leaders  of  the  Confederacy  into  the  Congress  of 
the  United  States,  did  not  tend  to  allay  the  feelings  of  re- 
sentment which  had  long  burned  in  the  loyal  heart  of  the 
North  against  those  who  had  tried  to  destroy  the  Union. 
About  sixty  brigadier-generals  of  the  late  Confederate  army 
came  into  that  Congress,  nor  was  their  conduct  in  that  body 
marked  with  such  modesty  of  demeanor  as  was  likely  to 
elicit  favor  from  the  Republicans.  They  asserted  themselves 
with  not  a  little  of  their  old-time  audacity.  They  ex- 
pressed regret  for  nothing  that  they  had  done.  They 
seemed  rather  to  glory  in  the  fact  that  they  had  been  the 
adherents  of  the  Lost  Cause.  When  ever  a  debate  was 
sprung  touching  upon  the  issues  which  had  been  involved  in 
the  war  they  came  to  the  front  with  as  much  arrogance  as 
in  the  ante-bellum  epoch.  Finally,  when  the  amnesty  bill, 
presented  by  Mr.  Randall,  of  Pennsylvania,  was  under  con- 
sideration, the  clause  appended  in  the  way  of  an  amendment, 
exempting  Jefferson  Davis  from  the  operations  of  the  bill, 


ELAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  201 

gave  to  the  brigadiers  a  full  opportunity  to  show  their  tem- 
per and  resubscribe  to  the  heresies,  not  to  say  atrocities,  of 
the  Rebellion.  Foremost  among  the  debaters  in  the  House 
at  this  time  was  Benjamin  Hill,  of  Georgia,  who,  with  more 
logic  than  wisdom,  undertook  to  show  that  he  himself  and 
many  others  were  well-nigh  as  guilty  as  the  chieftain  of  the 
ex-Confederacy.  It  was  at  this  juncture  that  Mr.  Elaine  again 
walked  into  the  arena  as  the  champion  of  the  North.  Per- 
haps he  never  appeared  to  a  better  advantage  in  a  Congres- 
sional debate  than  in  that  which  occurred  on  the  10th  of 
January,  1876.  He  took  advantage  of  the  occasion,  and  it 
can  not  be  doubted  that  his  speech  was  one  of  the  most 
effective  and  powerful  ever  delivered  in  Congress.  The  re- 
port of  it  resounded  through  the  country  like  a  bugle  call, 
and  the  impending  presidential  contest  took  its  tone  and 
character  in  a  large  measure  from  the  passionate,  patriotic 
appeal  of  Mr.  Elaine.  The  measure  was  entitled  "  a  bill  to 
remove  the  disabilities  imposed  by  the  third  section  of  the 
fourteenth  article  of  the  amendments  of  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States."  Mr.  Randall,  of  Pennsylvania,  moved  to 
suspend  the  rules  and  take  the  pending  bill  from  .the 
Speaker's  table.  At  this  juncture  Mr.  Elaine  arose  and 
said: 

"  Mr.  Speaker,  I  rise  to  a  privileged  question.  I  move 
to  reconsider  the  vote  which  has  just  been  declared.  I  pro- 
pose to  debate  that  motion,  and  now  give  notice,  that  if  the 
motion  to  reconsider  is  agreed  to,  it  is  my  intention  to  offer 
the  amendment  which  has  been  read  several  times.  I  will 
not  delay  the  House  to  have  it  read  again. 

"Every  time  the  question  of  amnesty  has  been  brought 


202          LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

before  the  House  by  a  gentleman  on  that  side  for  the  last 
two  Congresses,  it  has  been  done  with  a  certain  flourish  of 
magnanimity,  which  is  an  imputation  on  this  side  of  the 
House,  as  though  the  Republican  party  which  has  been  in 
charge  of  the  government  for  the  last  twelve  or  fourteen 
years  had  been  bigoted,  narrow,  and  illiberal,  and  as  though 
certain  very  worthy  and  deserving  gentlemen  in  the  Southern 
States  were  ground  down  to-day  under  a  great  tyranny  and 
oppression  from  which  the  hard-heartedness  of  this  side  of 
the  House  can  not  possibly  be  prevailed  upon  to  relieve 
them. 

"  If  I  may  anticipate  as  much  wisdom  as  ought  to  char- 
acterize that  side  of  the  House,  this  may  be  the  last  time 
that  amnesty  will  be  discussed  in  the  American  Congress. 
I  therefore,  desire,  and  under  the  rules  of  the  House,  with 
no  thanks  to  that  side  for  the  privilege,  to  place  on  record 
just  what  the  Republican  party  has  done  in  this  matter.  I 
wish  to  place  it  there  as  an  imperishable  record  of  liberality, 
and  large-mindedness,  and  magnanimity,  and  mercy,  far  be- 
yond any  that  has  ever  been  shown  before  in  the  world's 
history  by  conqueror  to  conquered. 

"With  the  gentleman  from  Pennsylvania  [Mr.  Randall], 
I  entered  this  Congress  in  the  midst  of  the  hot  flame  of 
war,  when  the  Union  was  rocking  to  its  foundations,  and  no 
man  knew  whether  we  were  to  have  a  country  or  not.  I 
think  the  gentleman  from  Pennsylvania  would  have  been 
surprised  when  he  and  I  were  novices  in  the  Thirty-eighth 
Congress,  if  he  could  have  foreseen,  before  our  joint  service 
ended,  we  should  have  seen  sixty-one  gentlemen,  then  in  arms 
against  us,  admitted  to  equal  privileges  with  ourselves,  and 


ELAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  .  203 

all  by  the  grace  and  magnanimity  of  the  Republican  party. 
When  the  war  ended,  according  to  the  universal  usage  of 
nations,  the  government,  then  under  the  exclusive  control  of 
the  Republican  party,  had  the  right  to  determine  what  should 
be  the  political  status  of  the  people  who  had  been  defeated  in 
war.  Did  we  inaugurate  any  measure  of  persecution  ?  Did 
we  set  forth  on  a  career  of  bloodshed  and  vengeance  ?  Did  we 
take  property  ?  Did  we  prohibit  any  man  all  his  civil  rights  ? 
Did  we  take  from  him  the  right  he  enjoys  to-day,  to  vote  ? 

"  Not  at  all.  But,  instead  of  a  general  and  sweeping  con- 
demnation, the  Republican  party  placed  in  the  fourteenth 
amendment  to  the  Constitution  only  this  exclusion;  after 
considering  the  whole  subject,  it  ended  in  simply  coming 
down  to  this  : 

"  'That  no  person  shall  be  a  Senator  or  Representative  in  Con- 
gress, or  elector  of  President  and  Vice-president,  or  hold  any  office, 
civil  or  military,  under  the  United  States,  or  under  any  State, 
who,  having  previously  taken  an  oath,  as  a  member  of  Congress, 
or  as  an  officer  of  the  United  States,  or  as  a  member  of  any  State 
Legislature,  or  as  an  executive  or  judicial  officer  of  any  State,  to 
support  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  shall  have  engaged 
in  insurrection  or  rebellion  against  the  same,  or  given  aid  or  com- 
fort to  the  enemies  thereof.  But  Congress  may,  by  vote  of  two- 
thirds  of  each  House,  remove  such  disability.' 

"  It  has  been  variously  estimated,  that  this  section  at 
the  time  of  its  original  insertion  in  the  Constitution  included 
somewhere  from  fourteen  to  thirty  thousand  persons ;  as 
nearly  as  I  can  gather  together  the  facts  of  the  case,  it  in- 
cluded about  eighteen  thousand  men  in  the  South.  It  let 
go  every  man  of  the  hundreds  of  thousands — or  millions,  if 
you  please — who  had  been  engaged  in  the  attempt  to  destroy 


204  LIFE  AND  SEE  VICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

this  government,  and  only  held  those  under  disability  who, 
in  addition  to  revolting,  had  violated  a  special,  and  peculiar, 
and  personal  oath  to  support  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States.  It  was  limited  to  that. 

.  "  Well,  the  disability  was  hardly  placed  upon  the  South 
until  we  began  in  this  hall,  and  in  the  other  wing  of  the 
capital,  when  there  were  more  than  two-thirds  Republicans 
in  both  branches,  to  remit  it,  and  the  very  first  bill  took 
that  disability  off  from  1,578  citizens  of  the  South ;  and  the 
next  bill  took  it  off  from  3,526  gentlemen — by  wholesale. 
Many  of  the  gentlemen  on  this  floor  came  in  for  grace  and 
amnesty  in  those  two  bills.  After  these  bills  specifying 
individuals  had  passed,  and  others  of  smaller  numbers,  which 
I  will  not  recount,  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  in  1872, 
by  two-thirds  of  both  branches,  still  being  two-thirds  Repub- 
lican, passed  this  general  law  : 

" '  That  all  political  disabilities  imposed  by  the  third  section  of 
the  fourteenth  article  of  amendments  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  are  hereby  removed  from  all  persons  whomsoever, 
except  Senators  and  Representatives  of  the  Thirty-sixth  and  Thirty- 
seventh  Congresses,  officers  in  the  judicial,  military,  and  naval 
service  of  the  United  States,  heads  of  departments,  and  foreign 
ministers  of  the  United  States.7 

"Since  that  act  passed  a  very  considerable  number  of 
the  gentlemen  whom  it  still  left  under  disability  have  been 
relieved  specially,  by  name,  in  separate  acts,  but  I  believe, 
Mr.  Speaker,  in  no  single  instance  since  the  act  of  May  22, 
1872,  have  the  disabilities  been  taken  from  any  man  ex- 
cept from  his  respectful  petition  to  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States  that  they  should  be  removed;  and  I  believe, 


ELAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  205 

in  no  instance,  except  one,  have  they  been  refused,  upon  the 
petition  being  presented.  I  believe  in  no  instance,  except 
one,  has  there  been  any  other  than  a  unanimous  vote. 

"Now  I  find  there  are  widely  varying  opinions  in  regard 
to  the  number  that  are  still  under  disabilities  in  the  South. 
I  have  had  occasion,  by  conference  with  the  Department  of 
War  and  of  the  Navy,  and  with  the  assistance  of  some 
records  which  I  have  caused  to  be  searched,  to  be  able  to 
state  to  the  House,  I  believe,  with  more  accuracy  than  it 
has  been  stated  hitherto,  just  the  number  of  gentlemen  in 
the  South  still  under  disabilities.  Those  who  were  officers 
of  the  United  States  Army,  educated  at  its  own  expense  at 
West  Point,  and  who  joined  the  rebellion,  and  are  still  in- 
cluded under  this  act,  number,  as  nearly  as  the  War  Depart- 
ment can  figure  it  up,  three  hundred  and  twenty-five ;  those 
in  the  Navy,  about  two  hundred  and  ninety-five :  those 
under  the  other  head — Senators  and  Representatives  of  the 
Thirty-sixth  and  Thirty-seventh  Congresses,  officers  in  the 
judicial  service  of  the  United  States,  heads  of  departments, 
and  foreign  ministers  of  the  United  States — make  up  a 
number  somewhat  more  difficult  to  state  accurately,  but 
smaller  in  the  aggregate.  The  whole  sum  of  the  entire  list 
(it  is  probably  impossible  to  state  it  with  entire  accuracy,  and 
I  do  not  attempt  to  do  that)  is  about  seven  hundred  and 
fifty  persons  now  under  disabilities. 

"I  am  very  frank  to  say,  then,  in  regard  to  all  these 
gentlemen,  save  one,  I  do  not  know  of  any  reason  why  am- 
nesty should  not  be  granted  to  them  as  it  has  been  to  many 
others  of  the  same  class.  I  am  not  here  to  argue  against 
it.  The  gentleman  from  Iowa  [Mr.  Kasson]  suggests,  'on 


206  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

their  application.'  I  am  coming  to  that.  But  as  I  have 
said,  seeing  in  this  list,  as  I  have  examined  it  with  some 
care,  no  gentleman  to  whom  I  think  there  could  be  any  ob- 
jection, since  amnesty  has  already  become  so  general — and 
I  am  not  going  back  of  that  question  to  argue  it — I  am  in 
favor  of  granting  it  to  them.  But  in  the  absence  of  this 
respectful  form  of  application  which,  since  May  22,  1872, 
has  become  a  sort  of  common  law,  as  preliminary  to  am- 
nesty, I  simply  wish  to  put  it  that  they  shall  go  before  a 
United  States  court,  and  in  open  court,  with  uplifted  hand, 
swear  that  they  mean  to  conduct  themselves  as  good  citi- 
zens of  the  United  States ;  that  is  all. 

"Now,  gentlemen  may  say  that- this  is  a  foolish  exaction. 
Possibly  it  is ;  but  somehow  or  other  I  have  a  prejudice  in 
favor  of  it,  and  there  are  some  petty  points  in  it  that  ap- 
peal as  well  to  prejudice  as  to  conviction.  For  one,  I  do 
not  want  to  impose  citizenship  upon  any  gentleman. 

"In  my  amendment,  Mr.  Speaker,  I  have  excepted  Jef- 
ferson Davis  from  its  operation.  Now,  I  do  not  place  it  on 
the  ground  that  Mr.  Davis  was,  as  he  has  been  commonly 
called,  the  head  and  front  of  the  rebellion,  because  on  that 
ground  I  do  not  think  the  exception  would  be  tenable.  Mr. 
Davis  was  just  as  guilty,  no  more  so,  no  less  so,  than  thou- 
sands of  others,  who  have  already  received  the  benefit  and 
grace  of  amnesty.  Probably  he  was  far  less  efficient  as  an 
enemy  of  the  United  States ;  probably  he  was  far  more  use- 
ful as  a  disturber  of  the  councils  of  the  Confederacy  than 
many  who  have  already  received  amnesty.  It  is  not  be- 
cause of  any  particular  and  special  damage  that  he  above 
others  did  to  the  Union,  or  because  he  was  personally  or 


ELAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  207 

especially  of  consequence,  that  I  except  him;  but  I  except 
him  on  this  ground:  That  he.  was  the  author,  knowingly, 
deliberately,  guiltily ^  and  willfully,  of  the  gigantic  murders 
and  crimes  at  Andersonville." 

A  MEMBER — "And  Libby." 

MR.  BLAINE — "  Libby  pales  into  insignificance  before  An- 
dersonville. I  place  it  on  that  ground,  and  I  believe  to-day 
that  so  rapidly  does  one  event  follow  on  the  heels  of  an- 
other, in  the  rapid  age  in  which  we  live,  that  even  those  of 
us  who  were  contemporaneous  with  what  was  transpiring 
there,  and  still  less  those  who  have  grown  up  since,  fail  to 
remember  the  gigantic  crime  then  committed. 

"Sir,  since  the  gentleman  from  Pennsylvania  [Mr.  Ran- 
dall] introduced  this  bill,  last  month,  I  have  taken  occasion 
to  re-read  some  of  the  historic  cruelties  of  the  world.  I 
have  read  over  the  details  of  those  atrocious  murders  of  the 
Duke  of  Alva,  in  the  Low  Countries,  which  are  always  men- 
tioned with  a  thrill  of  horror  throughout  Christendom;  I 
have  read  the  details  of  the  massacre  of  Saint  Bartholomew, 
that  stands  out  in  history  as  one  of  those  atrocities  beyond 
imagination ;  I  have  read  anew  the  horrors  untold  and  un- 
imaginable of  the  Spanish  Inquisition,  and  I  here,  before 
God,  measuring  my. words,  knowing  their  full  extent  and  im- 
port, declare,  that  neither  the  deeds  of  the  Duke  of  Alva,  in 
the  Low  Countries,  nor  the  massacre  of  Saint  Bartholomew, 
nor  the  thumb-screws  and  engines  of  torture  of  the  Spanish 
Inquisition  begin  to  compare  in  atrocity  with  the  hideous 
crime  of  Andersonville. 

"  Now,  I  do  not  .arraign  the  Southern  people  for  this ; 
God  forbid  that  I  should  charge  any  people  with  sympa- 


208  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

thizing  with  such  things !  There  were  many  evidences  of 
great  uneasiness  among  the  Southern  people  about  it;  and 
one  of  the  great  crimes  of  Jeiferson  Davis  was  that,  besides 
conniving  at  and  producing  that  condition  of  things,  he  con- 
cealed it  from  the  Southern  people.  He  labored  not  only  to 
conceal  it,  but  to  make  false  statements  about  it.  We  have 
obtained,  and  have  now  in  the  Congressional  Library,  a  com- 
plete series  of  Mr.  Davis's  messages — the  official  imprint 
from  Richmond.  I  have  looked  over  them,  and  I  have  here 
an  extract  from  his  message  of  November  7, 1864,  at  the  very 
time  that  these  horrors  were  at  their  acme ;  mark  you,  when 
those  horrors,  of  which  I  have  read  specimens,  were  at  their 
extremest  verge  of  desperation,  Mr.  Davis  sends  a  message 
to  the  Confederate  Congress  at  Richmond,  in  which  he  says : 

" '  The  solicitude  of  the  government  for  the  relief  of  our  cap- 
tive fellow-citizens  has  known  no  abatement,  has,  on  the  contrary, 
been  still  more  deeply  evoked  by  the  additional  sufferings  to  which 
they  have  been  wantonly  subjected  by  deprivation  of  adequate 
food,  clothing,  and  fuel,  which  they  were  not  even  permitted  to 
purchase  from  the  prison  sutler/ 

And  he  adds  that  the 

"  '  Enemy  attempted  to  excuse  their  barbarous  treatment  by 
the  unfounded  allegation  that  it  was  retaliatory  for  like  conduct 
on  our  part.' 

"Now,  I  undertake  here  to  say  that  there  is  not  a  Con- 
federate soldier  now  living,  who  has  any  credit  as  a  man  in 
his  community,  and  who  ever  was  a  prisoner  in  the  hands 
of  the  Union  forces,  who  will  say  that  he  ever  was  cruelly 
treated ;  that  he  ever  was  deprived  of  the  same  rations  that 
the  Union  soldiers  had — the  same  food,  and  the  same  clothing." 


ELAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  209 

MR.  COOK,  of  Georgia,  said — "  Thousands  of  them  say  it — 
thousands  of  them ;  men  of  as  high  character  as  any  in  this 
House." 

MR.  ELAINE — "  I  take  issue  upon  that,  there  is  not  one 
who  can  substantiate  it,  not  one.  As  for  measures  of  retali- 
ation— although  goaded  by  this  terrific  treatment  of  our 
friends  by  Mr.  Davis,  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  specif- 
ically refused  to  pass  a  resolution  of  retaliation,  as  contrary 
to  modern  civilization  and  the  first  precepts  of  Christianity. 
And  there  was  no  retaliation  attempted  or  justified.  It  was 
refused ;  and  Mr.  Davis  knew  it  was  refused  just  as  well  as 
I  knew  it,  or  any  other  man,  because  what  took  place  in 
Washington,  or  what  took  place  in  Richmond,  was  known 
on  either  side  of  the  lii\e  within  a  day  or  two  thereafter. 

"  Mr.  Speaker,  this  is  not  a  proposition  to  punish  Jeffer- 
son Davis;  there  is  nobody  attempting  that.  I  will  very 
frankly  say,  I  myself  thought  the  indictment  of  Mr.  Davis, 
at  Richmond,  under  the  administration  of  Mr.  Johnson,  was 
a  weak  attempt,  for  he  was  indicted  only  for  that  of  which 
he  was  guilty  in  common  with  all  others  who  went  into  the 
Confederate  movement.  Therefore,  there  was  no  particular 
reason  for  it.  But  I  will  undertake  to  say  this,  and,  as  it 
may  be  considered  an  extreme  speech,  I  want  to  say  it  with 
great  deliberation,  that  there  is  not  a  government,  a  civ- 
ilized government  on  the  face  of  the  globe — I  am  sure  there 
is  not  a  European  government,  that  would  not  have  arrested 
Mr.  Davis,  and,  when  they  had  him  in  their  power,  would 
not  have  tried  him  for  maltreatment  of  the  prisoners  of  war, 
and  shot  him  within  thirty  days.  France,  Russia,  England, 
Germany,  Austria,  any  one  of  them  would  have  done  it. 

14 


210  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

The  poor  victim,  Wirz,  deserved  his  death  for  brutal  treat- 
ment and  murder  of  many  victims,  but  I  always  thought  it 
was  a  weak  movement  on  the  part  of  our  government  to  al- 
low Jefferson  Davis  to  go  at  large,  and  hang  Wirz.  I  con- 
fess I  do.  Wirz  was  nothing  in  the  world  but  a  mere  sub- 
ordinate, a  tool,  and  there  was  no  special  reason  for  singling 
him  out  for  death.  I  do  not  say  he  did  not  deserve  it — he 
did,  richly,  amply,  fully.  He  deserved  no  mercy,  but  at  the 
same  time,  as  I  have  often  said,  it  seemed  like  skipping 
over  the  president,  superintendent,  and  board  of  directors 
in  the  case  of  a  great  railroad  accident,  and  hanging  the 
brakeman  of  the  rear  car. 

"  There  is  no  proposition  here  to  punish  Jefferson  Davis, 
nobody  is  seeking  to  do  it.  That  time  has  gone  by.  The 
statute  of  limitations,  common  feelings  of  humanity,  will  su- 
pervene for  his  benefit.  But  what  you  ask  us  to  do  is  to 
declare,  by  a  vote  of  two-thirds  of  both  branches  of  Congress, 
that  we  consider  Mr.  Davis  worthy  to  fill  the  highest  offices 
in  the  United  States,  if  he  can  get  a  constituency  to  indorse 
him.  He  is  a  voter;  he  can  buy  and  he  can  sell;  he  can  go 
and  he  can  come.  He  is  as  free  as  any  man  in  the  United 
States.  There  is  a  large  list  of  subordinate  offices  to  which 
he  is  eligible.  This  bill  proposes,  in  view  of  that  record, 
that  Mr.  Davis,  by  a  two-thirds  vote  of  the  Senate  and  a 
two-thirds  vote  of  the  House,  be  declared  eligible  and  worthy 
to  fill  any  office  up  to  the  Presidency  of  the  United  States. 
For  one,  upon  full  deliberation,  I  will  not  do  it. 

"  One  word  more,  Mr.  Speaker,  in  the  way  of  detail, 
which  I  omitted.  It  has  often  been  said  in  mitigation  of 
Jefferson  Davis,  in  the  Andersonville  matter,  that  the  men 


EL  A INE  IN  P  UBLIC  LIFE.  211 

who  died  there  in  such  large  numbers  (I  think  the  victims 
were  about  15,000),  fell  prey  to  an  epidemic,  and  died  of  a 
disease  which  would  not  be  averted.  The  record  shows  that 
out  of  35,000  men  about  33  per  cent  died,  that  is,  one  in 
three,  while  of  the  soldiers  encamped  near  by  to  take  care 
and  guard  them,  only  one  man  in  400  died;  that  is,  within 
a  half-mile  only,  one  in  400  died. 

"  As  to  the  general  question  of  amnesty,  Mr.  Speaker,  as 
I  have  already  said,  it  is  too  late  to  debate  it;  it  has  gone 
by.  Whether  it  has  in  all  respects  been  wise,  or  whether 
it  has  been  unwise,  I  would  not  detain  the  House  here  to 
discuss.  Even  if  I  had  a  strong  conviction  upon  that  ques- 
tion, I  do  not  know  that  it  would  be  productive  of  any  great 
good  to  enunciate  it,  but  at  the  same  time  it  is  a  very  singu- 
lar spectacle  that  the  Republican  party,  in  possession  of  the 
entire  government,  have  deliberately  called  back  into  public 
power  the  leading  men  of  the  South,  every  one  of  whom 
turns  up  its  bitter  and  relentless  and  malignant  foe ;  and  to- 
day, from  the  Potomac  to  the  Rio  Grande,  the  very  men  who 
have  received  this  amnesty  are  as  busy  as  they  can  be  in 
consolidating  into  one  compact  political  organization  the  old 
slave  States,  just  as  they  were  before  the  war.  We  see  the 
banner  held  out  blazoned  again  with  the  inscription  that, 
with  the  united  South  and  a  very  few  votes  from  the  North, 
this  country  can  be  governed.  I  want  the  people  to  under- 
stand that  is  precisely  the  movement;  that  that  is  the  ani- 
mus and  the  intent.  I  do  not  think  offering  amnesty  to  the 
seven  hundred  and  fifty  men  who  are  now  without  it,  will 
hasten  or  retard  that  movement.  I  do  not  think  the  grant- 
ing of  amnesty  to  Mr.  Davis  will  hasten  or  retard  it. 


212  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

"  I  heard  it  said,  '  We  will  lift  Mr.  Davis  again  into  great 
consequence  by  refusing  amnesty.'  That  is  not  for  me  to 
consider.  I  only  see  before  me,  when  his  name  is  presented, 
a  man  who  by  a  wink  of  his  eye,  by  a  wave  of  his  hand, 
by  a  nod  of  his  head,  could  have  stopped  the  atrocity  of 
Andersonville.  Some  of  us  had  kinsmen  there,  most  of  us 
had  friends  there,  all  of  us  had  countrymen  there,  and  in 
the  name  of  those  kinsmen,  friends,  and  countrymen,  I  here 
protest,  and  shall  with  my  vote  protest  against  their  calling 
back  and  crowning  the  man  who  organized  that  murder." 

On  the  great  question  of  a  sound  currency  based  on 
specie,  Mr.  Elaine  has  never  given  forth  an  uncertain  sound. 
He  has  shown  himself  opposed  to  all  heresies  relating  to  the 
over-issue  and  unstable  basis  of  paper  money.  During  the 
Forty-fourth  Congress  he  had  occasion  in  several  debates  to 
express  his  views  with  an  emphasis  not  to  be  mistaken.  He 
showed  himself  to  be  an  ardent  supporter  of  the  national 
credit,  and  spoke  with  fearless  freedom  against  the  doctrines 
of  inflation  and  an  irredeemable  paper.  On  the  10th  of 
February,  1876,  he  spoke  for  an  hour  on  this  subject,  hold- 
ing the  closest  attention  of  the  House,  and  eliciting  praise 
even  from  his  adversaries.  The  following  paragraph  will 
give  a  general  notion  of  the  logic  and  eloquence  of  his  speech : 

MR.  ELAINE — "  Mr.  Chairman,  the  honor  of  the  national 
government  and  of  the  prosperity  of  the  American  people, 
are  alike  menaced  by  those  who  demand  the  perpetuation 
of  an  irredeemable  paper  currency.  For  more  than  two  years 
the  country  has  been  suffering  from  prostration  in  business; 
confidence  returns  but  slowly;  trade  revives  only  partially; 
and  to-day,  with  capital  unproductive  and  labor  unemployed, 


ELAINE  IN  P  UBLIC  LIFE.  213 

we  find  ourselves  in  the  midst  of  an  agitation  respecting  the 
medium  with  which  business  transactions  shall  be  carried 
on.  Until  this  question  is  definitely  adjusted,  it  is  idle  to 
expect  that  full  measure  of  prosperity  to  which  the  energies 
of  our  people  and  the  resources  of  the  land  entitle  us.  In 
the  way  of  that  adjustment  one  great  section  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party — possibly  its  controlling  power — stubbornly 
stands  to-day.  The  Republicans,  always  true  to  the  primal 
duty  of  supporting  the  nation's  credit,  have  now  cast  behind 
them  all  minor  difference  and  dissensions  on  the  financial  ques- 
tion, and  have  gradually  consolidated  their  strength  against 
inflation.  The  currency,  therefore,  becomes  of  necessity  a 
prominent  political  issue,  and  those  Democrats  who  are  in 
favor  of  honest  dealing  by  the  government  and  honest  money 
for  the  people,  may  be  compelled  to  act  as  they  did  in  that 
still  graver  exigency  when  the  existence  of  the  govern- 
ment itself  was  at  stake. 

"  To  this  uniform  adherence  to  the  specie  standard  the 
crisis  of  the  rebellion  forced  an  exception.  In  January,  1862, 
with  more  than  a  half  million  of  men  in  arms,  with  a  daily 
expenditure  of  nearly  two  millions  of  dollars,  the  govern- 
ment suddenly  found  itself  without  money.  Customs  yielded 
but  little,  internal  taxes  had  not  yet  been  levied,  public 
credit  was  feeble  if  not  paralyzed,  our  armies  had  met  with 
one  signal  reverse,  and  nowhere  with  marked  success,  and  all 
minds  were  filled  with  gloom  and  apprehension.  The  one 
supreme  need  of  the  hour  was  money,  and  money  the  gov- 
ernment did  not  have.  What,  then,  should  be  done — rather 
what  could  be  done  ?  The  ordinary  note  had  been  tried  and 
failed,  and  those  already  issued  were  discredited  and  below 


214  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOO  AN. 

the  value  of  the  bills  of  country  banks.  The  government  in 
this  great  and  perilous  need  promptly  called  to  its  aid  a 
power  never  before  exercised — it  authorized  the  issue  of  one 
hundred  and  fifty  millions  of  notes,  and  declared  them  to 
be  a  legal  tender  for  all  debts,  public  and  private,  with  two 
exceptions. 

"The  necessities  of  the  government  were  so  great,  and 
expenditures  so  enormous,  that  another  hundred  and  fifty 
millions  of  legal  tender  notes  were  speedily  called  for  and 
granted  by  Congress,  the  Democrats  again  voting  under  Mr. 
Pendleton's  lead  against  the  measure.  With  varying  fortunes 
the  last  year  of  the  war  was  reached,  with  three  hundred  mill- 
ions of  legal  tenders  in  circulation.  With  the  strain  of  our 
public  credit,  and  the  doubts  and  vicissitudes  of  the  struggle, 
these  notes  had  fallen  far  below  par  in  gold,  and  it  became 
apparent  to  every  clear-headed  observer,  that  the  continued 
issue  of  legal  tenders,  with  no  provision  for  their  redemp- 
tion, and  no  limit  to  their  amount,  would  utterly  destroy  the 
credit  of  the  government,  and  involve  the  Union  cause  in 
irretrievable  disaster.  But  at  that  moment  the  military  sit- 
uation, with  its  perils  and  its  prospects,  was  such  that  the 
government  must  have  money  more  rapidly  than  the  sale  of 
bonds  could  furnish  it,  and  the  danger  was  that  the  sale  of 
bonds  would  be  stopped  altogether,  unless  some  definite  limit 
could  be  assigned  to  the  issue  of  legal  tender  notes.  Accord- 
ingly, Congress  sought,  and  successfully  sought,  to  accomplish 
both  ends  at  the  same  time,  and  they  passed  a  bill  granting 
one  hundred  millions  additional  legal  tender  circulation — 
making  four  hundred  millions  in  all — and  then  incorporated 
in  the  same  law  a  solemn  assurance,  and  pledge  that  'the 


ELAINE  IN  P  UBLIC  LIFE.  215 

total  amount  of  United  States  notes,  issued  and  to  be  issued, 
shall  never  exceed  four  hundred  millions  of  dollars,'  and  to 
this  pledge  every  Pemocratic  Senator  and  Representative 
assented,  either  actively  or  silently,  as  the  journals  of  both 
Houses  will  show.  The  subsequent  readiness  of  many  of 
those  gentlemen  to  trample  on  it  must  be  upon  the  broad 
principle  of  ethics  that  the  government  should  keep  those 
pledges  which  are  profitable  and  disregard  those  which  it 
will  pay  to  violate. 

"  When  the  war  was  over  and  the  Union  saved,  one  of 
the  first  duties  of  the  government  was  to  improve  its  credit 
and  restore  a  sound  currency  to  the  people ;  and  here  we  might 
have  reasonably  expected  the  aid  of  the  Democratic  party. 
But  we  did  not  receive  it.  Irreconcilably  hostile  to  the 
issue  of  legal  tenders  when  that  form  of  credit  was  needed  for 
the  salvation  of  the  country,  the  Democracy,  as  soon  as  the 
country  was  saved,  conceived  a  violent  love  for  these  notes, 
and  demanded  an  almost  illimitable  issue  of  them. 

"  As  I  said  at  the  outset  of  my  remarks,  Mr.  Chairman, 
the  country  is  suffering  under  one  of  those  periodical  revul- 
sions in  trade  common  to  all  commercial  nations,  and  which, 
thus  far,  no  wisdom  of  legislation  has  been  able  to  avert. 
The  natural  restlessness  of  a  people  so  alive  and  alert  as 
ours,  looks  for  an  instant  remedy,  and  the  danger  in  such  a 
condition  of  the  public  mind  is  that  something  may  be 
adopted  that  will  ultimately  deepen  the  disease  rather  than 
lay  the  ground-work  for  an  effectual  cure.  Naturally  enough, 
in  such  a  time  the  theories  for  relief  are  numerous,  and  we 
have  marvelous  recipes  offered  whereby  the  people  shall  be 
enabled  to  pay  the  dollar  they  owe  with  less  than  a  hun- 


216  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOG  AN. 

dred  cents;  while  those  who  are  caught  with  such  a  delu- 
sion seemingly  forget  that,  even  if  this  be  so,  they  must 
likewise  receive  less  than  a  hundred  cents  for  the  dollar  that 
is  due  them.  Whether  the  dollar  that  they  owe  to-day  or  the 
dollar  that  is  due  them  to-morrow  will  have  the  greater  or 
less  number  of  cents  depends  on  the  shifting  of  causes  which 
they  can  neither  control  nor  foresee;  and,  therefore,  all  cer- 
tain calculation  in  trade  is  set  at  defiance,  and  those  branches 
of  business  which  take  on  the  form  of  gambling  are  by  finan- 
cial paradox  the  most  secure  and  most  promising.  ... 
"The  national  bank  system,  Mr.  Chairman,  was  one  of 
the  results  of  the  war,  and  the  credit  of  its  origin  belongs 
to  the  late  Salmon  P.  Chase,  then  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
and  it  may  not  be  unprofitable  just  here  to  recall  to  the 
House  the  circumstances  which  at  the  time  made  the  na- 
tional banks  a  necessity  to  the  government.  At  the  outbreak 
of  the  war  there  were  considerably  over  a  thousand  State 
banks,  of  various  degrees  of  responsibility  or  irresponsibility, 
scattered  throughout  the  country.  Their  charters  demanded 
the  redemption  of  their  bills  in  specie,  and  under  the  pressure 
of  this  requirement  their  aggregate  circulation  was  kept  within 
the  decent  limits,  but  the  amount  of  it  was,  in  most  instan- 
ces, left  to  the  discretion  of  the  directors,  and  not  a  few  of 
these  banks  issued  ten  dollars  of  bills  for  one  of  specie  in 
their  vaults.  With  the  passage  of  the  legal  tender  act, 
however,  followed  an  enormous  issue  of  government  notes; 
the  State  banks  would  no  longer  be  required  to  redeem  in 
specie,  and  would,  therefore,  at  once  flood  the  country  with 
their  own  bills,  and  take  from  the  government  its  resources 
in  that  direction.  To  restrict  and  limit  their  circulation,  and 


ELAINE  IN  P  UBLIC  LIFE.  217 

to  make  the  banks  as  helpful  as  possible  in  the  great  work 
of  sustaining  the  government  finances  the  national  bank  act 
was  passed. 

It  is  greatly  to  be  deplored,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  many- 
candid  men  have  conceived  the  notion  that  it  would  be  a 
saving  to  the  people  if  all  banks  could  be  dispensed  with, 
and  the  circulating  medium  be  furnished  by  the  government 
issuing  legal  tenders.  I  do  not  stop  here  to  argue  that  this 
would  be  in  violation  of  the  government's  pledge  not  to  issue 
more  than  four  hundred  millions  of  its  own  notes.  I  merely 
remark  that  that  pledge  is  binding  in  honor  until  legal  ten- 
ders are  redeemable  in  coin  on  presentation,  and  when  that 
point  is  reached  there  will  be  no  desire,  as  there  will  cer- 
tainly be  no  necessity,  for  government  issuing  additional 
notes.  .  .  . 

"  It  is  a  singular  circumstance,  Mr.  Chairman — one  of 
those  odd  happenings  sometimes  brought  about  by  political 
mutations — that  those  who  urge  this  scheme  upon  the  gov- 
ernment are  Democrats,  every  one  of  whom  would  doubtless 
claim  to  be  a  true  disciple  of  Andrew  Jackson,  and  yet  all 
the  evils  of  which  Jackson  warned  the  country  in  his  famous 
controversy  with  the  United  States  Bank  are  a  thousand 
fold  magnified,  and  a  thousand  fold  aggravated,  in  this  plan 
of  making  the  treasury  department  itself  the  bank,  with 
Congress  for  the  govering  board  of  directors.  I  commend 
to  gentlemen  of  Democratic  antecedents  a  careful  perusal 
of  Jackson's  great  message  of  July  10,  1832,  and  I  wish 
them  to  frankly  tell  this  House  how  they  think  Jackson 
would  have  regarded  the  establishment  of  a  great  national 
paper-money  machine,  to  be  located  for  all  time  in  the  treas- 


218  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  BLAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

ury  department,  the  bills  of  which  shall  have  no  provision 
for  their  redemption,  and  the  amount  of  those  bills  to  be  de- 
termined by  a  majority  vote  in  a  party  caucus.  .  .  . 

"  It  is  urged  by  the  opponents  of  the  banking  system  that 
the  three  hundred  and  twenty  millions  of  bank  circulation 
can  be  supplied  by  legal  tenders  and  the  interests  on  that 
amount  of  bonds  stopped !  How  ?  Does  any  gentleman  sup- 
pose that  the  bonds  owned  by  the  banks,  and  on  deposit  in 
the  treasury,  will  be  exchanged  for  legal  tenders  of  a  new 
and  inflated  issue?  Those  bonds  are  payable,  principal  and 
interest,  in  gold;  and,  with  the  present  amount  of  legal  ten- 
der notes,  they  are  worth  in  the  market  $1.16  to  $1.25. 
What  will  they  be  worth  in  paper  money  when  you  double 
the  amount  of  legal  tenders  and  postpone  the  day  of  specie 
resumption  far  beyond  the  vision  of  prophet  or  seer?  And 
this  enormous  issue  of  legal  tenders  to  take  the  place  of 
bank  notes  is  only  the  beginning  of  the  policy  to  be  inau- 
gurated. The  'wants  of  trade'  would  speedily  demand  an- 
other issue,  for  the  essential  nature  of  an  irredeemable  cur- 
rency is  that  it  has  no  limit  till  a  reaction  is  born  of  crushing 
disaster.  A  lesson  might  be  learned  (by  those  willing  to  be 
taught  by  fact  and  experience)  from  the  course  of  events 
during  the  war.  When  we  had  one  hundred  and  fifty  mill- 
ions of  legal  tender  in  circulation,  it  stood  for  a  long  while 
nearly  at  par  with  gold.  As  the  issue  increased  in  amount 
the  depreciation  was  very  rapid,  and  at  the  time  we  fixed 
the  four  hundred  million  limit,  that  whole  vast  sum  had  less 
purchasing  power  in  exchange  for  lands,  or  houses,  or  mer- 
chandize than  the  hundred  and  fifty  millions  had  two  years 
before.  In  the  spring  of  1862,  $150,000,000  of  legal  ten- 


ELAINE  IN  P  UBLIC  LIFE.  219 

der  would  buy  in  the  market  $147,000,000  in  gold  coin.  In 
June,  1864,  $400,000,000  of  legal  tender  would  buy  only 
$140,000,000  in  gold  coin.  ,  .  . 

"Among  the  anomalies  presented  in  the  currency  dis- 
cussion, Mr.  Chairman,  is  that  the  West  and  the  South  shall 
have  so  large  an  element  clamorous  for  inflation.  Of  all  sec- 
tions interested  in  the  specie  standard,  the  West  and  the 
South  stand  first.  The  great  staples  produced  in  those  vast 
and  fertile  regions,  wheat,  corn,  flour,  beef,  pork,  hides, 
tobacco,  hemp,  cotton,  rice,  and  sugar,  are  inevitably  and 
peremptorily  subjected  to  the  gold  standard  when  sold.  The 
price  of  cotton  sent  to  Lowell  is  just  as  much  determined 
by  the  gold  standard  as  that  which  is  exported  to  Man- 
chester, and  the  breadstuffs  sold  in  New  York  are  daily 
equaled  with  the  prices  of  Liverpool  Corn  Exchange.  And 
so  of  all  the  other  commodities ;  and  yet  we  hear  representa- 
tives of  the  great  interests  that  are  thus  compelled  to  sell 
at  gold  prices,  resolute  and  determined  in  their  demands 
that  they  shall  be  allowed  to  purchase  all  their  supplies  on 
the  paper  basis.  When  it  is  remembered  that  the  whole  of 
the  annual  crop  in  this  country,  reckoning  all  products, 
reaches  the  enormous  amount  of  three  thousand  millions  on 
the  gold  basis,  and  that  the  surplus  not  consumed  by  the 
producers  is  many  hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars,  and  thnt 
the  value  of  the  whole  is  estimated  by  the  gold  standard,  the 
farmers  of  the  country  may  find  profitable  food  for  reflec- 
tion in  calculating  what  the  agricultural  interest  loses  every 
year  by  an  irredeemable  paper  currency.  .  .  . 

"  There  is  not  a  cotton  plantation  in  the  South,  not  a 
grain  or  grazing  farm  in  the  West,  not  a  coal-pit  or  iron 


220  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

furnace  in  Pennsylvania  or  Ohio,  not  a  manufactory  in  New 
England,  not  a  ship-yard  on  the  Atlantic  coast,  not  a  lum- 
ber-camp from  the  Penobscot  to  the  Columbia,  not  a  mile 
of  railway  between  the  two  oceans,  that  would  not  feel  the 
quickening,  gainful  influence  of  a  final  and  general  acquies- 
cence in  measures  looking  to  specie  payment.  The  Repub- 
licans meditate  no  harsh,  or  hasty,  or  destructive  policy  on 
this  question,  but  one  that  shall  be  firm,  considerate,  and 
conclusive.  The  Democracy,  by  refusing  to  co-operate  in 
the  good  work,  can  keep  the  matter  in  agitation  and  pro- 
long the  era  of  dullness  and  inactivity  in  the  country. 
Having  stubbornly  refused  to  vote  for  legal-tenders  when 
the  salvation  of  the  Union  demanded  them,  that  party 
can  now  fittingly  complete  its  financial  record  by  resisting 
all  honest  efforts  to  restore  the  specie  standard  to  the 
people.  .  . 

"  To-day,  the  total  debts  of  the  American  people,  na- 
tional, State,  and  municipal,  are  not  so  large  in  proportion  to 
already  acquired  property  as  was  the  national  debt  alone  in 
1790,  and  when  we  take  into  the  account  the  relative  pro- 
ductive power  of  the  two  periods,  our  present  burdens  are 
absolutely  inconsiderable.  When  we  reflect  what  the  rail- 
way, the  telegraph,  the  cotton-gin,  and  our  endless  mechani- 
cal inventions  and  agencies  have  done  for  us  in  the  way  of 
increasing  our  capacity  for  producing  wealth,  we  should  be 
ashamed  to  pretend  that  we  can  not  bear  larger  burdens 
than  our  ancestors ;  and  remember,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  our 
wealth  from  1790  to  1870  increased  more  than  five  times  as 
rapidly  as  our  population,  and  the  same  development  is  even 
now  progressing  with  a  continually  accelerating  ratio.  Re- 


ELAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  221 

member,  also,  that  the  annual  income  and  earnings  of  our 
people  are  larger  than  those  of  any  European  country, 
larger  than  those  of  England  or  France,  or  Russia  or  the 
German  Empire.  The  English  people  stand  next  to  us,  but 
we  are  largely  in  advance  of  them.  The  annual  income  of 
our  entire  people  exceeds  six  thousand  millions  in  gold,  and  de- 
spite financial  reverses  and  revulsions  is  steadily  increasing. 

"  In  view  of  these  facts,  it  would  be  an  unpardonable 
moral  weakness  in  our  people — always  heroic  when  heroism 
is  demanded — to  doubt  their  own  capacity  to  maintain 
specie  payment.  I  am  not  willing  myself  to  acknowledge 
that  as  a  people  we  are  less  competent  than  were  our  ances- 
tors in  1790 ;  still  less  honorable,  less  courageous,  or  less 
competent  than  were  our  ancestors  in  1790;  still  less  am  I 
ready  to  own  that  the  people  of  the  entire  Union  have  not 
the  pluck  and  the  capacity  of  our  friends  and  kinsmen  in 
California;  and  last  of  all  would  I  confess  that  the  United 
States  of  America,  with  forty -four  millions  of  inhabitants, 
with  a  territory  surpassing  all  Europe  in  area,  and  I  might 
almost  say  all  the  world  in  fertility  of  resources,  are  not 
able  to  do  what  a  handful  of  British  subjects,  scattered 
from  Cape  Grace  to  Vancouver  Island,  can  do  so  easily,  so 
steadily,  and  so  successfully.  .  .  ij.  • 

"  The  act  providing  for  resumption  in  1879  requires,  in 
the  judgment  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  some  addi- 
tional legislation  to  make  it  practical  and  effective.  As  it 
stands  it  fixes  a  date,  but  gives  no  adequate  process;  and 
the  paramount  duty  of  Congress  is  to  provide  a  process. 
And  in  all  legislation  looking  to  that  end  it  must  be  borne  in 
mind  that,  unless  we  move  in  harmony  with  the  great  busi- 


222  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOO  AN. 

ness  interests  of  the  country,  we  shall  assuredly  fail. 
Specie  payment  can  only  be  brought  about  by  wise  and 
well  considered  legislation,  based  on  the  experience  of  other 
nations,  embodying  the  matured  wisdom  of  the  country, 
healthfully  promoting  all  legitimate  business,  and  carefully 
avoiding  every  thing  that  may  tend  to  create  fear  and  dis- 
trust among  the  people.  In  other  words,  what  we  most 
need  as  the  outgrowth  of  legislation  is  confidence,  public 
and  private,  general  and  individual.  To-day  we  are  suffer- 
ing from  the  timidity  of  capital,  and  so  long  as  the  era  of 
doubt  and  uncertainty  prevails  that  timidity  will  continue 
and  increase.  Steps  toward  inflation  will  make  it  chronic; 
unwise  steps  toward  resumption  will  not  remove  it.  We 
shall  have  discharged  our  full  duty  in  Congress  if  we  can 
mature  a  measure  which  will  steadily  advance  our  currency 
to  the  specie  standard,  and  at  the  same  time  work  in  har- 
mony with  the  reviving  industries  and  great  commercial 
wants  of  the  country. 

"In  any  event,  Mr.  Chairman,  whatever  we  may  do,  or 
whatever  we  may  leave  undone,  on  this  whole  financial  ques- 
tion, let  us  not  delude  ourselves  with  the  belief  that  we  can 
escape  the  specie  standard.  It  rules  us  to-day,  and  has 
ruled  us  throughout  the  whole  legal  tender  period,  just  as 
absolutely  as  though  we  were  paying  and  receiving  coin 
daily.  Our  work,  our  fabrics,  our  commodities,  are  all 
measured  by  it,  and  so  long  as  we  cling  to  irredeemable 
paper  money  we  have  all  the  burdens  and  disadvantages  of 
the  gold  standard,  with  none  of  its  aids  and  gains  and  prof- 
its. 'The  thing  which  hath  been  is  that  which  shall 
be.'  The  great  law-giver  of  antiquity  records  in  the  very 


ELAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  223 

opening  chapters  of  Genesis  that  'the  gold  of  the  land  of 
Havilah  is  good/  and,  with  another  precious  metal,  it  has 
maintained  its  rank  to  this  day.  No  nation  has  ever  suc- 
ceeded in  establishing  any  other  standard  of  value;  no 
nation  has  ever  made  the  experiment  except  at  great  cost 
and  sorrow,  and  the  advocates  of  irredeemable  money  to- 
day are  but  asking  us  to  travel  the  worn  and  weary  road, 
traveled  so  many  times  before — a  road  that  has  always 
ended  in  disaster,  and  often  in  disgrace." 


224  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  BLAINE  AND  LOG  AN. 


CHAPTKR  X. 

BLAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.— Continued. 

"  The  great  high  road  of  human  welfare  lies  along  the  old  highway 
of  steadfast  well-doing ;  and  they  who  are  the  most  persistent,  and  work 
in  the  truest  spirits,  will  invariably  be  the  most  successful ;  success  treads 
on  the  heels  of  every  right  effort."  SMILES. 

IN  THE  SENATE. 

JULY  3,  1876,  Governor  Connor,  of  Maine,  appointed  Mr. 
Elaine  to  the  high  and  important  position  of  Senator  of 
the  United  States,  to  succeed  Hon.  Lot  M.  Morrill.  Mr. 
Morrill  had  resigned  to  accept  the  post  of  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  just  vacated  by  the  retirement  of  Hon.  Benjamin 
F.  Bristow.  At  the  succeeding  session  of  the  Maine  Legis- 
lature, Mr.  Blaine  was  elected  to  the  Senate. 

An  exciting  presidential  campaign  was  just  getting  warm, 
with  Hayes  as  the  nominee  of  one  party  and  Tilden  of  the 
other.  The  result  seemed  to  indicate  that  if  either  was 
elected,  both  were,  so  evenly  balanced  were  the  returns. 
The  complication  thus  occasioned  was  grave  indeed,  and 
some  leading  men  of  the  country  professed  to  fear  all  sorts 
of  untoward  things,  even  civil  war.  At  the  meeting  of  Con- 
gress in  December,  a  plan  was  agreed  upon  for  settlement  of 
the  dispute.  A  bill  providing  for  an  Electoral  Commission, 
to  consist  of  five  Senators,  five  Representatives,  and  five 
Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court,  was  agreed  upon  by  a  coin- 


ELAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  225 

mittee  composed  of  members  of  both  Houses,  and  promptly 
reported.  After  a  heated  debate,  it  became  a  law  in  January, 
1877,  and  provided  .that  all  disputed  election  returns  should 
be  referred  for  adjudication  to  the  commission  thus  created. 
The  count  was  not  concluded  till  the  2d  of  March,  when 
it  was  decided  that  185  electoral  votes  were  cast  for  Hayes 
and  Wheeler,  and  184  for  Tilden  and  Hendricks.  Mr.  Elaine 
opposed  the  Electoral  Commission  bill,  and  while  it  was 
pending  in  the  Senate  spoke  upon  it  as  follows : 

"  Mr.  President,  I  have,  I  trust,  as  profound  an  apprecia- 
tion as  any  Senator  on  this  floor  of  the  gravity  of  the  situa- 
tion. I  would  not,  if  I  could,  underrate  it,  and  no  public 
good  can  result  from  overstating  it.  I  have  felt  anxious 
from  the  first  day  of  the  session  to  join  in  any  wise  measure 
that  would  tend  to  allay  public  uneasiness  and  to  restore, 
or  at  least  maintain,  public  confidence.  In  this  spirit  I 
followed  the  lead  of  the  honorable  chairman  of  the  J.udiciary 
Committee  [Mr.  Edmunds],  in  December,  in  an  effort  to  se- 
cure a  Constitutional  Amendment,  which  would  empower  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  to  peacefully  and 
promptly  settle  all  the  troubles  growing  out  of  the  disputed 
electoral  votes.  I  knew  there  were  weighty  objections  to 
any  measure  connecting  the  judiciary  with  the  political 
affairs  of  the  country ;  but  I  nevertheless  thought,  and  I 
still  think,  that  under  the  impressive  sanction  of  a  Constitu- 
tional Amendment,  the  angry  difficulties  growing  out  of  a 
presidential  contest  might  with  safety  and  satisfaction  be 
adjusted  by  that  supreme  tribunal  which,  combining  dignity, 
honor,  learning,  and  presumed  impartiality,  would  be  regarded 
by  men  of  all  parties  as  a  trustworthy  repository. 

15 


226  LIFE  AND  SER  VICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

"  It  was  in  that  spirit  and  with  these  views  that  I  voted 
for  the  Constitutional  Amendment,  which  I  regret  to  say 
failed  to  commend  itself  to  the  Senate.  It  was  defeated, 
and  I  refer  to  it  now  only  to  show  that  I  have  not  been 
reluctant  to  make  any  proper  and  constitutional  adjustment 
of  pending  difficulties.  I  am  not  wedded  to  any  particular 
plan  except  that  of  the  Constitution,  nor  have  I  any  pet 
theories  outside  of  the  Constitution;  and,  unlike  a  good  many 
gentlemen  on  both  sides  of  the  chamber  with  whom  I  am 
newly  associated  here,  I  have  no  embarrassing  record  on  this 
question  of  '  counting  the  votes.' 

"  But  Mr.  President,  looking  at  the  measure  under  con- 
sideration, and  looking  at  it  with  every  desire  to  co-operate 
with  those  who  are  so  warmly  advocating  it,  I  am  compelled 
to  withhold  the  support  of  my  vote.  I  am  not  prepared  to 
vest  any  body  of  men  with  the  tremendous  power  which 
this  bill  gives  to  fourteen  gentlemen,  four  of  whom  are  to 
complete  their  number  by  selecting  a  fifteenth,  and  selecting 
a  fifteenth  under  such  circumstances  as  throughout  the  length 
and  breadth  of  the  land  impart  a  peculiar  interest,  I  might 
say  an  absorbing  interest,  to  what  Mr.  Benton  termed  in  the 
Texas  Indemnity  bill,  'that  coy  and  bashful  blank.'  I  do 
not  believe  that  Congress  itself  has  the  power  which  it  pro- 
poses to  confer  on  these  fifteen  gentlemen.  I  do  not  profess 
to  be  what  is  termed,  in  the  current  phrase  of  the  day,  a 
'  constitutional  lawyer,'  but  every  Senator  voting  under  the 
obligations  of  his  oath  and  his  conscience  must  ultimately 
be  his  own  constitutional  lawyer.  And  I  deliberately  say 
that  I  do  not  believe  that  Congress  possesses  the  power  itself, 
and  still  less  the  power  to  transfer  to  any  body  of  fourteen, 


ELAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  227 

or  fifteen,  or  fifty  gentlemen,  that  with  which  it  is  now  pro- 
posed to  invest  five  Senators,  five  Representatives,  and  five 
Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court.  I  did  not  at  this  late  hour 
of  the  night  rise  to  make  an  argument,  but  merely  to  state 
the  ground,  the  constitutional  and  conscientious  ground,  on 
which  I  feel  compelled  to  vote  against  the  pending  bill.  I 
have  had  a  great  desire  to  co-operate  with  my  political  friends 
who  are  advocating  it,  but  every  possible  inclination  of  that 
kind  has  been  removed  and  dispelled  by  the  very  arguments 
brought  in  support  of  the  bill,  able  and  exhaustive  as  they 
have  been  on  that  side  of  the  question. 

"  I  beg  to  make  one  additional  remark  through  you,  Mr. 
President,  to  the  chairman  of  the  Judiciary  Committee,  that 
while  this  subject  is  now  in  the  public  mind  as  it  never  has 
been  before  from  the  foundation  of  the  government,  when 
the  leading  jurists  of  the  country  have  been  investigating  it 
as  never  before,  that  they  will  not  allow  this  session  of  Con- 
gress to  close  without  carefully  maturing  and  submitting  to 
the  States  a  Constitutional  Amendment  which  will  remove  so 
far  as  possible  all  embarrassments  in  the  future.  The  people 
of  this  country,  without  regard  to  party,  desire  in  our  govern- 
ment due  and  orderly  procedure  under  the  sanction  of  law, 
and  that  I  am  sure  is  what  is  desired  by  every  Senator  on 
this  floor,  and  by  none  more  ardently  than  by  myself.  Let  us 
then,  if  possible,  guard  against  all  trouble  in  the  future  by 
some  wise  and  timely  measure  that  will  be  just  to  all  parties 
and  all  sections,  and,  above  all,  just  to  our  obligations  under 
the  Constitution." 

Senator  Elaine  opposed  President  Hayes's  Southern  policy, 
and  took  a  decided  stand  against  the  President's  action  in 


228          LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOO  AN. 

recognizing  the  Democratic  State  Governments  in  South 
Carolina  and  Louisiana  in  the  Spring  of  1877. 

When  the  Senate  considered  the  bill  authorizing  the  free 
coinage  of  the  standard  silver  dollar,  and  to  restore  its  legal 
tender  character,  Mr.  Blaine  offered  a  substitute  for  the  bill, 
containing  three  propositions,  as  he  states  in  these  words  : 

"  1.  That  the  dollar  shall  contain  four  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  grains  of  standard  silver,  shall  have  unlimited  coinage, 
and  be  an  unlimited  legal  tender. 

"2.  That  all  profits  of  coinage  shall  go  to  the  govern- 
ment, and  not  to  the  operator  in  silver  bullion. 

"3.  That  silver  dollars  or  silver  bullion,  assayed  and 
mint-stamped,  may  be  deposited  with  the  assistant  treasurer 
of  New  York,  for  which  coin  certificates  may  be  issued,  the 
same  in  denomination  as  United  States  notes,  not  below  ten 
dollars,  and  that  these  shall  be  redeemable  on  demand  in 
coin  or  bullion,  thus  furnishing  a  paper  circulation  based  on 
an  actual  deposit  of  precious  metal,  giving  us  notes  as  valu- 
able as  those  of  the  Bank  of  England,  and  doing  away  at 
once  with  the  dreaded  inconvenience  of  silver  on  account  of 
bulk  and  weight." 

Mr.  Blaine  presented  his  views  on  the  Silver  Question 
in  a  rather  lengthy  and  very  able  speech,  on  the  day  he  of- 
fered his  substitute,  which  was  February  7,  1878.  The 
concluding  portion  of  his  speech  read  thus  : 

"  The  effect  of  paying  the  labor  of  this  country  in  silver 
coin  of  full  value,  as  compared  with  the  irredeemable  paper, 
or  as  compared  even  with  silver  of  inferior  value,  will  make 
itself  felt  in  a  single  generation  to  the  extent  of  tens  of  mill- 
ions, perhaps  hundreds  of  millions,  in  the  aggregate  savings 


ELAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  229 

which  represent  consolidated  capital.  It  is  the  instinct  of 
man,  from  the  savage  to  the  scholar — developed  in  child- 
hood and  remaining  with  age — to  value  the  metals  which  in 
all  tongues  are  called  precious.  Excessive  paper  money 
leads  to  extravagance,  to  waste,  and  to  want,  as  we  pain- 
fully witness  on  all  sides  to-day.  And  in  the  midst  of  the 
proof  of  its  demoralizing  and  destructive  effect,  we  hear  it 
proclaimed  in  the  halls  of  Congress  that  'the  people  de- 
mand cheap  money.'  I  deny  it.  I  declare  such  a  phrase  to 
be  a  total  misapprehension — a  total  misinterpretation  of  the 
popular  wish.  The  people  do  not  demand  cheap  money. 
They  demand  an  abundance  of  good  money,  which  is  an  en- 
tirely d'fferent  thing.  They  do  not  want  a  single  gold 
standard,  that  will  exclude  silver  and  benefit  those  already 
rich.  They  do  not  want  an  inferior  silver  standard,  that 
will  drive  out  gold  and  not  help  those  already  poor.  They 
want  both  metals,  in  full  value,  in  equal  honor,  in  whatever 
abundance  the  bountiful  earth  will  yield  them  to  the  search- 
ing eye  of  science  and  to  the  hard  hand  of  labor. 

"  The  two  metals  have  existed,  side  by  side,  in  har- 
monious, honorable  companionship  as  money,  ever  since  in- 
telligent trade  was  known  among  men.  It  is  well-nigh  forty 
centuries  since  '  Abraham  weighed  to  Ephron  four  hundred 
shekels  of  silver — current  money  with  the  merchant.'  Since 
that  time  nations  have  risen  and  fallen,  races  have  disap- 
peared, dialects  and  languages  have  been  forgotten,  arts 
have  been  lost,  treasures  have  perished,  continents  have  been 
discovered,  islands  have  been  sunk  in  the  sea,  and  through 
all  these  ages,  and  through  all  these  changes  silver  and  gold 
have  reigned  supreme  as  the  representation  of  value,  as  the 


230  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

media  of  exchange.  The  dethronement  of  each  has  been  at- 
tempted  in  turn,  and  sometimes  the  dethronement  of  both; 
but  always  in  vain!  And  we  are  here  to-day,  deliberating 
anew  over  the  problem  which  comes  down  to  us  from  Abra- 
ham's time — the  weight  of  the  silver  that  shall  be  'current 
money  with  the  merchant.' ' 

It  has  been  a  prominent  part  of  the  policy  of  Mr.  Elaine, 
in  public  life,  to  stand  armed  against  the  undue  domination 
of  foreign  states  in  the  affairs  of  America.  He  has  consist- 
ently and  persistently  denied  the  right  of  any  foreign  state 
to  exercise  a  control  over  questions  purely  American.  When- 
ever a  measure  has  been  sprung,  touching  the  strict  inde- 
pendence of  the  country,  Elaine  has  been  found  with  drawn 
sword  ready  to  repel  the  assault.  This  policy  has  led  him, 
not  infrequently,  to  take  the  arena  in  opposition  to  measures 
which  he  deemed  likely  to  aifect  unfairly  the  high,  rank  of 
the  American  Republic.  It  was  this  principle  of  action 
which  brought  him  into  prominence  during  the  debate  in  the 
Senate  on  the  Halifax  Fishery  Award,  in  1878.  He  was 
one  of  the  most  indignant  of  all  at  what  he  deemed  the 
treachery  and  overreaching  of  Great  Britain  in  that  matter. 
Finally  consenting  to  accept  the  report  of  the  Committee  on 
Foreign  Relations,  he  nevertheless  left  on  record  a  ringing 
protest  against  some  of  the  principles  and  facts  involved  in 
the  controversy.  On  the  first  of  June  he  delivered  an  ad- 
dress in  the  Senate,  the  spirit  of  which  may  be  inferred 
from  the  following  extract : 

"  Mr.  President,  I  shall  support  the  report  made  by  the 
Committee  on  Foreign  Relations,  although  I  wish  that  some 
amendments  could  be  made  to  it.  But  I  do  not  concur  in 


ELAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  231 

what  was  implied  in  the  remarks  of  the  Senator  from  Ohio, 
on  this  subject,  that  Great  Britain  had  discharged  her  duties 
under  this  treaty  with  exemplary  fidelity,  and  that  we  were 
in  danger  of  not  following  a  good  example.  I  maintain  that 
from  the  first,  throughout  the  whole  of  the  treaty — and  I 
know  I  am  taking  what  has  not  been  heretofore  a  popular 
side,  or  the  generally  accepted  version — it  has  been  a  treaty 
of  a  singularly  one-sided  character,  in  which,  as  I  shall  show, 
the  entire  advantage  was  gained  by  Great  Britain,  and  in 
the  parts  that  she  has  not  esteemed  it  to  be  her  interest  to 
fulfill  it,  she  has  declined  to  fulfill  it.  Up  to  this  day  one 
of  the  most  important  parts  of  the  treaty  has  been  evaded, 
and  its  fulfillment  refused  by  Great  Britain.  Let  me  explain. 
When  the  Joint  High  Commission  came  to  consider  what 
were  known  as  the  Alabama  Claims,  they  agreed  upon  three 
rules  which  Great  Britain  diplomatically  disavowed  through 
her  commissioners  to  have  been  accepted  rules  of  inter- 
national law  at  the  time,  but  said  that  they  would  agree  to 
them  as  the  basis  of  a  settlement,  and  they  might  go  before 
the  tribunal  as  if  they  had  been  in  force  as  principles  of  in- 
ternational law  at  the  time  of  their  alleged  infraction.  Then 
Great  Britain  and  the  United  States,  in  binding  themselves 
to  the  observance  of  these  rules  in  future,  assumed  another 
mutual  obligation  in  this  clause  of  the  treaty : 

"  'And  the  high  contracting  parties  agree  to  observe  these  rules 
between  themselves  in  future,  and  to  bring  them  to  the  knowledge 
of  the  other  maritime  powers  and  to  invite  them  to  accede  to 
them.' 

"  Unless  I  am  entirely  misinformed,  and  I  think  I  am 
correctly  informed,  Great  Britain  has  refused  up  to'  this 


232  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

time,  and  it  has  been  seven  years  this  month  since  the  treaty 
was  perfected,  to  join  with  the  United  States  in  asking  the 
other  maritime  powers  to  agree  to  those  rules.  I  have 
ground  for  believing  this  statement  to  be  substantially,  if  not 
literally,  true,  and  if  the  Senate  will  support  me  in  a  reso- 
lution which  I  shall  offer,  we  shall  find  out,  authentically, 
that  Mr.  Fish,  lately  Secretary  of  State,  advised  Great 
Britain  that,  refusing  to  join  with  the  United  States  in  pro- 
posing these  rules  for  other  maritime  powers,  the  United 
States  would  be  justified  in  treating  them  as  a  nullity.  I 
do  not  pretend  at  all  to  be  inside  of  the  secrets  and  aims 
and  purposes  of  British  diplomacy,  but  I  do  know  that  hav- 
ing got  those  three  rules  which  bind  us  very  tightly,  which 
makes  us  keep  a  very  sharp  police  on  fifteen  thousand  miles 
of  ocean  front  that  encircle  our  own  dominions,  and  hold  us 
accountable  for  any  privateers  or  depredators  or  *  Alabamas,' 
or  any  sort  of  cruisers  that  may  get  out  in  case  Great  Bri- 
tain goes  to  war  with  Russia,  as  is  now  possible  if  not  prob- 
able (I  hope  not  even  probable),  and  makes  us  accountable 
in  damages  afterward  for  any  losses  thus  resulting  to  her 
subjects — that  while  she  holds  us  thus  closely  under  the 
three  rules,  she  has  not  asked  another  nation  in  all  Europe 
to  be  bound  by  those  rules;  she  has  refused  to  join  the 
United  States  in  asking  the  maritime  powers  to  accept  them 
and  be  bound  by  them.  I  do  not  believe  in  having  one 
part  of  the  treaty  quoted  on  us  to  the  letter  i  which  killeth,' 
and  then  to  have  the  part  which  does  not  exactly  comport 
with  the  interest  of  Great  Britain,  absolutely  slurred  over 
and  denied. 

"I  repeat,  I  do  not  pretend  to  see  any  further  through 


ELAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  233 

secret  and  hidden  motives  than  any  body  else,  and  I  do 
not  pretend  to  know,  much  less  do  I  pretend  to  state,  what 
the  motive  of  Great  Britain  is,  although  I  have  heard  it, 
and  I  have  he*ard  it  was  because  the  government  of  the 
German  Empire  objected  to  those  rules  being  made  general 
in  Europe.  At  all  events  it  is  known,  and  we  ought  to 
know  here  authentically — and  it  would  be  some  advantage 
to  know  it  before  we  pass  on  the  measure — we  ought  to 
know  authentically  what  has  transpired  between  this  gov- 
ernment and  the  government  of  Great  Britain  with  regard 
to  these  three  rules,  which  were  so  finely  chiseled  and  so 
closely  drawn  and  so  narrowly  constructed  that  when  we 
got  into  the  tribunal,  at  Geneva,  we  were  practically  pow- 
erless. When  confessedly  the  aid  and  support  of  Great 
Britain  to  the  rebellion  had  been  hundreds  of  millions  of 
dollars  of  damage  to  this  country;  when  they  swept  our 
mercantile  marine,  two-thirds  of  it,  out  of  existence ;  when 
their  aid  and  countenance  to  the  Confederacy  had  destroyed 
one  of  the  great  leading  interests  of  the  United  States,  we 
consented  to  such  a  narrow  construction  of  these  three  rules 
as  absolutely  cut  us  down  to  fifteen  and  a  half  million  dol- 
lars for  damages,  and  Great  Britain  at  once  gets  seven  and 
a  half  millions  of  that  back — two  millions  on  the  Washing- 
ton Claims  Commission,  of  1871-72,  and  now  five  and  a 
half  millions  more  on  this  fishery  award. 

"So,  when  the  Senator  from  Ohio  holds  up  the  example 
of  Great  Britain  to  us  to  imitate  in  this  matter,  I  beg  him 
to  observe  what  Great  Britain's  course  has  been  in  regard  to 
this  part  of  the  treaty.  It  was  Great  Britain's  highest  in- 
terest to  pay  the  Geneva  award.  She  never  paid  fifteen 


234  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOO  AN. 

million  dollars  in  her  life  that  was  so  good  an  investment  as 
that  was,  under  the  circumstances.  Whether  we  can  find 
any  body,  under  the  narrow  rules  that  were  laid  down,  that 
is  a  lawful  claimant  for  the  money  awarded  us  at  Geneva, 
is  quite  another  thing;  that  is  for  us  to  determine;  but 
Great  Britain  herself  gained  the  incalculable  advantage  of 
making  us  a  practical  ally  to  her,  willing  or  unwilling,  in 
all  her  contests  with  European  powers.  The  Russians  are 
watched  by  every  form  of  observation  if  they  land  on  the 
coast  of  Maine,  or  if  they  buy  a  vessel  in  New  York  or  Phil- 
adelphia; and  the  moment  there  is  a  declaration  of  war, 
instead  of  Great  Britain  doing  the  watching,  we  shall  be 
compelled,  under  the  three  rules,  to  do  it  ourselves.  We 
shall  be  forced  on  the  anxious-seat,  and  if  a  Russian  vessel 
should  escape  from  our  coast,  and  Great  Britain  could  show 
that  we  have  not  used  due  diligence,  we  are  to  be  responsi- 
ble in  the  amounts  of  money  that  may  result  from  her  dep- 
redations on  British  commerce.  Great  Britain  gets  all  these 
vast  advantages  out  of  us,  and  then  refuses,  as  I  say,  for 
some  reason,  and  continues  to  refuse,  up  to  this  time,  to 
agree  that  other  maratime  nations,  in  whose  adoption  of 
these  three  rules  we  might  have  very  great  interests,  shall 
act  on  them — refuses  even  to  submit  them,  as  the  treaty 
bound  her  to  do — and  she  has  permitted  seven  years  to  go 
by  without  so  much  as  uniting  with  us  in  asking  a  single 
European  power  to  accept  them. 

"Now,  let  us  go  back  a  little,  inasmuch  as  we  are  dis- 
cussing this  subject  generally,  as  the  Senator  from  Ohio  has 
introduced  it.  When  the  war  broke  out,  in  1861,  Mr.  Sew- 
ard,  through  our  minister  at  the  Court  of  St.  James,  Mr. 


ELAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  235 

Adams,  immediately  proposed  that  the  United  States  should 
become  a  party  to  the  treaty  of  Paris,  to  which  there  had 
been  forty-six  or  forty-seven  nations  of  the  earth  already 
parties,  to  suppress  privateering.  Lord  John  Russell,  re- 
cently deceased,  apparently  received  the  proposition  with 
the  utmost  complaisance,  and  agreed  to  it;  and  after  the 
agreement  was  made,  and  we  thought  the  treaty  was  about 
to  become  a  regular  convention  between  the  two  govern- 
ments, he  put  in  a  condition  that  it  should  not  at  all  affect 
the  existing  relations  between  Great  Britain  and  the  Con- 
federate States,  or  that  the  question  should  not  in  the  least 
degree  be  affected  by  the  relations  of  any  internal  dissen- 
sions in  the  United  States ;  in  other  words,  that  if  we  lived 
to  survive  the  Rebellion  in  the  United  States,  the  very  time 
when  we  should  not  need  the  advantage  of  this  treaty,  we 
might  enjoy  it;  but  that,  pending  that,  we  should  not  have 
any  advantage  from  it  at  all.  And  the  British  Government 
would  not  agree,  on  the  other  hand,  that  if  any  disturbance 
should  take  place  in  any  part  of  the  British  Empire,  we 
should  not  be  similarly  bound  as  England  was  then.  Let 
me  read  just  what  Mr.  Seward  said  on  that  point : 

" '  The  proposed  declaration  is  inadmissable,  among  other  reasons, 
because  it  is  not  mutual.  It  proposes  a  special  rule  by  which  her 
majesty's  obligations  shall  be  meliorated  in  their  bearing  upon  in- 
ternal difficulties  now  prevailing  in  the  United  States,  while 
the  obligations  to  be  assumed  by  the  United  States  shall  not  be 
similarly  meliorated,  or  at  all  affected  in  their  bearing  on  inter- 
nal differences  that  may  now  be  prevailing  or  may  hereafter  arise 
and  prevail  in  Great  Britain.1" 

"  The  whole  of  it  was   one-sided.     And  now  I  will  give 
the  honorable  Senator  from  Ohio   a  very  substantial  reason 


236  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

why  the  government  of  the  United  States  ought  to  proceed 
to  the  payment  of  the  fishery  award  in  a  different  manner 
from  that  which  the  government  of  Great  Britain  adopted 
with  reference  to  the  Geneva  award.  The  struggles  between 
the  Dominion  of  Canada,  or  that  which  now  constitutes  the 
Dominion  of  Canada,  the  British-American  provinces,  and 
the  United  States,  for  reciprocal  relations  of  trade  and  com- 
merce, have  been  troublesome  questions  for  eighty  years, 
and  every  time  we  have  attempted  to  adjust  them,  the  fish- 
eries have  been  put  forward  as  the  stumbling-block  in  the 
way  of  a  fair  agreement;  and  the  payment  of  the  five  and 
a  half  millions  settles  the  question  for  only  twelve,  years, 
and  then  it  is  all  open  again.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
fifteen  and  a  half  millions,  paid  in  pursuance  of  the  Geneva 
award,  closed  that  account  for  all  time ;  or,  if  it  left  it  open 
at  all,  it  left  it  open  with  the  three  rules  operating  in  Great 
Britain's  favor.  But  let  us  pay  this  five  and  a  half  millions, 
as  the  honorable  Senator  from  Ohio  invites  us  to  do ;  let  us  walk 
up  without  saying  one  word,  and  pay  this  five  and  a  half  mill- 
ion of  dollars  to  Great  Britain,  and  what  is  the  result?  It 
is  inevitably  accepted  by  the  government  of  Great  Britain 
as  a  concession  on  the  part  of  the  government  of  the  United 
States,  as  a  just  measure  of  value  of  those  fishery  privileges, 
and  any  subsequent  notice  that  we  might  give,  six  or  eight 
years  hence,  would  be  treated  as  an  afterthought.  If  we  do 
not  make  that  point  at  this  time,  we  lose  all  the  advantage 
of  making  it  at  all ;  and  if  we  now  pay  that  money  without 
in  some  form  emphatically  entering  our  dissent  from  it  as  a 
just  measure  of  the  value  of  the  fisheries,  we  are  estopped 
from  ever  pleading  it  hereafter,  and  we  shall  have  committed 


ELAINE  IN  P UBL1C  LIFE.  237 

ourselves  to  the  conclusion  that  those  fisheries,  in  reciprocal 
arrangements  for  trade  between  the  Dominion  of  Canada  and 
the  United  States,  are  to  be  reckoned  as  of  the  value  of  a 
half  million  dollars  per  annum  bonus  from  the  United  States, 
•in  addition  to  the  admission  of  Canadian  fish  free  of  duty 
to  our  markets. 

"  This  question,  Mr.  President,  has  some  sectional  and 
local  relation,  I  know.  We  are  much  more  aifected  by  it 
where  I  come  from  than  are  the  people  where  the'  Senator 
from  Ohio  comes  from.  It  is  a  matter  of  daily,  very  press- 
ing interest  with  us,  and  we  know  very  well  that  if  we  sit 
still  here  and  consent  to  this  award  being  accepted  publicly 
as  a  just  measure  of  value,  we  can  never  have  the  trade 
between  the  Dominion  of  Canada  and  the  United  States 
regulated  thereafter  upon  any  fair,  equitable,  amicable  basis." 

On  no  subject  have  the  views  of  Mr.  Elaine  been  more 
pronounced  and  unequivocal  than  on  that  relating  to  the 
freedom  and  purity  of  elections.  On  this  subject  he  has 
never  given  forth  an  uncertain  sound.  During  the  third 
session  of  the  Forty-fifth  Congress  he  distinguished  himself 
in  the  Senate  by  his  tremendous  outcry  against  the  fraudu- 
lent methods  by  which  the  electors  of  the  Southern  States, 
both  black  and  white,  had  been  terrorized  to  the  level  of  a 
degraded  servitude.  One  of  his  best  speeches  was  delivered 
during  that  session  on  the  exercise  of  the  elective  franchise. 

The  resolutions  which  brought  on  the  debate  were  pre- 
sented by  himself,  as  follows  : 

"Resolved,  That  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary  be  instructed 
to  inquire  and  report  to  the  Senate  whether  at  the  recent  elections 
the  constitutional  rights  of  American  citizens  were  violated  in  any 


238  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

of  the  States  of  the  Union ;  whether  the  right  of  suffrage  of  citi- 
zens of  the  United  States,  or  of  any  class  of  such  citizens,  was  de- 
nied or  abridged  by  the  action  of  the  election  officers  of  any  State 
in  refusing  to  receive  their  votes,  in  failing  to  count  them,  or  in  re- 
ceiving and  counting  fraudulent  ballots  in  pursuance  of  a  conspi- 
racy to  make  the  lawful  votes  of  such  citizens  of  none  effect ;  and 
whether  such  citizens  were  prevented  from  exercising  the  elective 
franchise ;  or  forced  to  use  it  against  their  wishes,  by  violence  or 
threats,  or  hostile  demonstrations  of  armed  men  or  other  organiza- 
tions, or  by  any  other  unlawful  means  or  practices. 

"  Resolved,  That  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary  be  further  in- 
structed to  inquire  and  report  whether  it  is  within  the  competency 
of  Congress  to  provide  by  additional  legislation  for  the  more  per- 
fect security  of  the  right  of  suffrage  to  citizens  of  the  United 
States  in  all  the  States  of  the  Union. 

"  Resolved,  That  in  prosecuting  these  inquiries  the  judiciary 
committee  shall  have  the  right  to  send  for  persons  and  papers." 

On  these  resolutions  Mr.  Elaine  addressed  the  Senate  as 
follows : 

"  Mr.  President,  the  pending  resolutions  were  offered  by 
me,  with  a  two-fold  purpose  in  view : 

"  First,  to  place  on  record,  in  a  definite  and  authentic 
form,  the  frauds  and  outrages  by  which  some  recent  elections 
were  carried  by  the  Democratic  party  in  the  Southern  States. 

"  Second,  to  find  if  there  be  any  method  by  which  a 
repetition  of  these  crimes  against  a  free  ballot  may  be 
prevented. 

"The  newspaper  is  the  channel  through  which  the 
people  of  the  United  States  are  informed  of  current  events, 
and  the  accounts  given  in  the  press  represent  the  elections 
in  some  of  the  Southern  States  to  have  been  accompanied  by 
violence ;  in  not  a  few  cases  reaching  the  destruction  of  life ; 


ELAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE,  239 

to  have  been  controlled  by  threats  that  awed  and  intimated 
a  large  class  of  voters,  to  have  been  manipulated  by  fraud 
of  the  most  shameless  and  shameful  description.  Indeed,  in 
South  Carolina"  there  seems  to  have  been  no  election  at  all 
in  any  proper  sense  of  the  term.  There  was  instead  a  series 
of  skirmishes  over  the  State  in  which  the  polling-places 
were  regarded  as  forts  to  be  captured  by  one  party  and 
held  against  the  other,  and  where  this  could  not  be  done 
with  convenience,  frauds  in  the  count  and  tissue-ballot 
devices  were  resorted  to  in  order  to  effectually  destroy  the 
voice  of  the  majority.  These,  in  brief,  are  the  accounts 
given  in  the  non-partisan  press  of  the  disgraceful  outrages 
that  attended  the  recent  elections,  and  so  far  as  I  have  seen 
these  statements  are  without  serious  contradiction.  It  is 
but  just  and  fair  to  all  parties,  however,  that  an  impartial 
investigation  of  the  facts  shall  be  made  by  a  committee  of 
the  Senate,  proceeding  under  the  authority  of  law,  and  repre- 
senting the  power  of  the  nation.  Hence  my  resolutions. 

"  But  we  do  not  need  investigation  to  establish  certain 
facts  already  of  official  record.  We  know  that  one  hundred 
and  six  representatives  in  Congress  were  recently  chosen  in 
the  States  formerly  slave-holding,  and  that  the  Democrats 
elected  one  hundred  and  one,  or  possibly  one  hundred  and 
two,  and  the  Republicans  four,  or  possibly  five.  We  know 
that  thirty-five  of  these  representatives  were  assigned  to 
the  Southern  States  by  reason  of  the  colored  population, 
and  that  the  entire  political  power  thus  founded  on  the 
numbers  of  the  colored  people  has  been  seized  and  appro- 
priated to  the  aggrandizement  of  its  own  strength  by  the 
Democratic  party  of  the  South. 


240          LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

"The  issue  thus  raised  before  the  country,  Mr.  Presi- 
dent, is  not  one  of  mere  sentiment  for  the  rights  of  the 
negro,  though  far  distant  be  the  day  when  the  rights  of  any 
American  citizen,  however  black  or  however  poor,  shall 
form  the  mere  dust  of  the  balance  in  any  controversy ;  nor 
is  the  issue  one  that  involves  the  waving  of  the  "  bloody 
shirt,"  to  quote  the  elegant  vernacular  of  Democratic  vitu- 
peration ;  nor  still  further  is  the  issue  as  now  presented  only 
a  question  of  the  equality  of  the  black  voter  of  the  South 
with  the  white  voter  of  the  South.  The  issue,  Mr.  Presi- 
dent, has  taken  a  far  wider  range,  one  of  portentous  magni- 
tude ;  and  that  is,  whether  the  white  voter  of  the  North 
shall  be  equal  to  the  white  voter  of  the  South  in  shaping 
the  policy  and  fixing  the  destiny  of  this  country ;  or 
whether,  to  put  it  still  more  baldly,  the  white  man  who 
fought  in  the  ranks  of  the  Union  army  shall  have  as  weighty 
and  influential  a  vote  in  the  government  of  the  republic  as 
the  white  man  who  fought  in  the  ranks  of  the  rebel  army. 
The  one  fought  to  uphold,  the  other  to  destroy,  the  union  of 
the  States,  and  to-day  he  who  fought  to  destroy  is  a  far 
more  important  factor  in  the  government  of  the  Nation  than 
he  who  fought  to  uphold  it. 

"Let  me  illustrate  my  meaning  by  comparing  groups  of 
States  of  the  same  representative  strength  North  and  South. 
Take  the  States  of  South  Carolina,  Mississippi,  and  Louisi- 
ana, they  send  seventeen  representatives  to  Congress.  Their 
aggregate  population  is  composed  of  ten  hundred  and  thirty- 
five  thousand  whites  and  twelve  hundred  and  twenty-four 
thousand  colored,  the  colored  being  nearly  two  hundred 
thousand  in  excess  of  the  whites.  Of  the  seventeen  repre- 


SLA INE  IN  P  UBLIC  LIFE.  241 

sentatives,  then,  it  is  evident  that  nine  were  apportioned  to 
these  States  by  reason  of  their  colored  population,  and  only- 
eight  by  reason  of  their  white  population;  and  yet,  in 
choice  of  the  entire  seventeen  representatives  the  colored 
voters  had  no  more  voice  or  power  than  their  remote  kin- 
dred on  the  shores  of  Senegambia  or  on  the  gold  coast. 
The  ten  hundred  and  thirty-five  thousand  white  people  had 
the  sole  and  absolute  choice  of  the  entire  seventeen  repre- 
sentatives. In  contrast,  take  two  States  in  the  North,  Iowa 
and  Wisconsin,  with  seventeen  representatives.  They  have 
a  white  population  of  two  million  two  hundred  and  forty- 
seven  thousand — considerably  more  than  double  the  entire 
white  population  of  the  three  Southern  States  I  have  named. 
In  Iowa  and  Wisconsin,  therefore,  it  takes  one  hundred  and 
thirty-two  thousand  white  population  to  send  a  representa- 
tive to  Congress,  but  in  South  Carolina,  Mississippi,  and 
Louisiana  every  sixty  thousand  white  send  a  represen- 
tative ;  in  other  words,  sixty  thousand  white  people  in  those 
Southern  States  have  precisely  the  same  political  power 
in  the  government  of  the  country  that  one  hundred  and 
thirty-two  thousand  white  people  have  in  Iowa  and  Wis- 
consin. 

"Take  another  group  of  seventeen  representatives  from 
the  South  and  from  the  North.  Georgia,  and  Alabama  have 
a  white  population  of  eleven  hundred  and  fifty-eight  thou- 
sand, and  a  colored  population  of  ten  hundred  and  twenty 
thousand.  They  send  seventeen  representatives  to  Congress, 
of  whom  nine  were  apportioned  on  account  of  the  white 
population  and  eight  on  account  of  the  colored  population. 
But  the  colored  voters  were  not  able  to  choose  a  single  rep- 

16 


242  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOO  AN. 

resentative,  the  white  Democrats  choosing  the  whole  seven- 
teen. The  four  Northern  States,  Michigan,  Minnesota,  Ne- 
braska, and  California  have  seventeen  representatives,  based 
on  a  white  population  of  two  and  a  quarter  millions,  or 
almost  double  the  white  population  of  Georgia  and  Alabama, 
so  that  in  these  relative  groups  of  States  we  find  the  white 
man  South  exercises  by  his  vote  double  the  political  power 
of  the  white  man  North. 

"  Let  us  carry  the  comparison  to  a  more  comprehensive 
generalization.  The  eleven  States  that  formed  the  Confed- 
erate Government  had  by  the  last  census  a  population  of 
nine  and  a  half  millions,  of  which  in  round  numbers  five 
and  a  half  millions  were  white  and  four  millions  colored. 
On  this  aggregate  population  seventy-three  representatives 
in  Congress  were  appointed  to  those  States — forty-two  or 
three  of  whom  were  by  reason  of  the  white  population,  and 
thirty  or  thirty-one  by  reason  of  the  colored  population.  At 
the  recent  election  the  white  Democracy  of  the  South  seized 
seventy  of  the  seventy-three  districts,  and  thus  secured  a 
Democratic  majority  in  the  next  House  of  Representatives. 
Thus  it  appears  that  throughout  the  States  that  formed  the 
late  Confederate  Government,  sixty-five  thousand  whites — 
the  very  people  that  rebelled  against  the  Union — are  enabled 
to  elect  a  representative  in  Congress,  while  in  the  loyal 
States  it  requires  one  hundred  and  thirty-two  thousand  of 
the  white  people  that  fought  for  the  Union  to  elect  a  rep- 
resentative. In  levying  every  tax,  therefore,  in  making 
every  appropriation  of  money,  in  fixing  every  line  of  pub- 
lic policy,  in  decreeing  what  shall  be  the  fate  and  fortune 
of  the  Republic,  the  Confederate  soldier  South  is  enabled 


BLAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  243 

to  cast  a  vote  that  is  twice  as  powerful  and  twice  as  influ- 
ential as  the  vote  of  the  Union  soldier  North. 

"  But  the  white  men  of  the  South  did  not  acquire,  and 
do  not  hold  this  superior  power  by  reason  of  law  or  justice, 
but  in  disregard  and  defiance  of  both.  The  Fourteenth 
Amendment  to  the  Constitution  was  expected  to  be  and  was 
designed  to  be  a  preventive  and  corrective  of  all  such  possi- 
ble abuses.  The  reading  of  the  clause  applicable  to  the 
case  is  instructive  and  suggestive ;  hear  it : 

" '  Representatives  shall  be  apportioned  among  the  sev- 
eral States  according  to  their  respective  numbers,  counting 
the  whole  number  of  persons  in  each  State,  excluding  In- 
dians not  taxed.  But  when  the  right  to  vote  at  any  elec- 
tion for  choice  of  electors  for  President  and  Vice-president 
of  the  United  States,  Representatives  in  Congress,  the  exec- 
utive and  judicial  officers  of  a  State,  or  the  members  of  the 
Legislature  thereof,  is  denied  to  any  of  the  male  inhabitants 
of  such  State  being  twenty-one  years  of  age,  and  citi- 
zens of  the  United  States,  or  in  any  way  abridged,  ex- 
cept for  participation  in  rebellion,  or  other  crime,  the 
basis  of  representation  therein  shall  be  reduced  in  the  pro- 
portion which"  the  number  of  such  male  citizens  shall  bear 
to  the  whole  number  of  male  citizens  twenty-one  years  of 
age  in  such  State.' 

"  The  patent,  undeniable  intent  of  this  provision  was 
that  if  any  class  of  voters  were  denied  or  in  any  way 
abridged  in  their  right  of  suffrage,  then  the  class  so  denied 
or  abridged  should  not  be  counted  in  the  basis  of  the  rep- 
resentation, or,  in  other  words,  that  no  State  or  States 
should  gain  a  large  increase  of  representation  in  Congress 


244  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

by  reason  of  counting  any  class  of  population  not  permitted 
to  take  part  in  electing  such  representatives.  But  the  con- 
struction given  to  this  provision  i-s  that  before  any  forfeiture 
of  representation  can  be  enforced  the  denial  or  abridgment  of 
suffrage  must  be  the  result  of  a  law  specifically  enacted  by 
the  State.  Under  this  construction  every  negro  voter  may 
have  his  suffrage  absolutely  denied,  or  fatally  abridged  by 
the  violence,  actual  or  threatened,  of  irresponsible  mobs, 
or  by  frauds  and  deceptions  of  State  officers  from  the  gov- 
ernor down  to  the  last  election  clerk,  and  then,  unless  some 
State  law  can  be  shown  that  authorizes  the  denial  or  abridg- 
ment, the  State  escapes  all  penalty  or  peril  of  reduced  rep- 
resentation. This  construction  may  be  upheld  by  the  courts 
ruling  on  the  letter  of  the  law,  '  which  killeth,'  but  the 
spirit  of  justice  cries  aloud  against  the  evasive  and  atrocious 
conclusion  that  deals  out  oppression  to  the  innocent,  and 
shields  the  guilty  from  the  legitimate  consequences  of  will- 
ful transgression. 

"The  colored  citizen  is  thus  most  unhappily  situated; 
his  right  of  suffrage  is  but  a  hollow  mockery ;  it  holds  to 
his  ear  the  word  of  promise,  but  breaks  it  always  to  his 
hope,  and  he  ends  only  in  being  made  the  unwilling  instru- 
ment of  increasing  the  political  strength  of  that  party  from 
which  he  received  ever-tightening  fetters  when  he  was  a 
slave,  and  contemptuous  refusal  of  civil  rights  since  he  was 
made  free.  He  resembles,  indeed,  those  unhappy  captives 
in  the  East  who,  deprived  of  their  birthright,  are  compelled 
to  yield  their  strength  to  the  upbuilding  of  the  monarch 
from  whose  tyrannies  they  have  most  to  fear,  and  to  fight 
against  the  power  from  which  alone  deliverance  might  be 


ELAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  245 

expected.  The  franchise,  intended  for  the  shield  and  de- 
fense of  the  negro,  has  been  turned  against  him  and  against 
his  friends,  and  has  vastly  increased  the  power  of  those 
from  whom  he  has  nothing  to  hope  and  every  thing  to  dread. 
"  The  political  power  thus  appropriated  by  Southern 
Democrats,  by  reason  of  the  negro  population,  amounts  to 
thirty-five  Representatives  in  Congress.  It  is  massed  almost 
solidly,  and  offsets  the  great  State  of  New  York ;  or  Pennsyl- 
vania and  New  Jersey  together ;  or  the  whole  of  New  Eng- 
land ;  or  Ohio  and  Indiana  united ;  or  the  combined  strength 
of  Illinois,  Minnesota,  Kansas,  California,  Nevada,  Nebraska, 
Colorado,  and  Oregon.  The  seizure  of  this  power  is  wanton 
usurpation ;  it  is  flagrant  outrage ;  it  is  violent  perversion  of 
the  whole  theory  of  republican  government.  It  inures  solely 
to  the  present  advantage,  and  yet,  I  believe,  to  the  perma- 
nent dishonor  of  the  Democratic  party.  It  is  by  reason  of 
this  trampling  down  of  human  rights,  this  ruthless  seizure  of 
unlawful  power  that  the  Democratic  party  holds  the  popular 
branch  of  Congress  to-day,  and  will,  in  less  than  ninety  days, 
have  control  of  this  body  also,  thus  grasping  the  entire  legis- 
lative department  of  the  government,  through  the  unlawful 
capture  of  the  Southern  States.  If  the  proscribed  vote  of 
the  South  were  cast  as  its  lawful  owners  desire,  the  Demo- 
cratic party  could  not  gain  power.  Nay,  if  it  were  not 
counted  on  the  other  side,  against  the  instincts  and  the  inter- 
ests, against  the  principles  and  prejudices  of  its  lawful  own- 
ers, Democratic  success  would  be  hopeless.  It  is  not  enough, 
then,  for  modern  Democratic  tactics  that  the  negro  vote  shall 
be  silenced ;  the  demand  goes  farther,  and  insists  that  it 
shall  be  counted  on  their  side,  that  all  the  Representatives 


246  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

in  Congress,  and  all  the  presidential  electors  apportioned  by 
reason  of  the  negro  vote,  shall  be  so  cast  and  so  governed  as 
to  insure  Democratic  success — regardless  of  justice,  in  defi- 
ance of  law. 

"And  this  injustice  is  wholly  unprovoked.  I  doubt  if  it 
be  in  the  power  of  the  most  searching  investigation  to  show 
that  in  any  Southern  State,  during  the  period  of  Republican 
control,  any  legal  voter  was  ever  debarred  from  the  freest 
exercise  of  his  suffrage.  Even  the  revenges  which  would 
have  leaped  into  life  with  many  who  despised  the  negro  were 
buried  out  of  sight  with  a  magnanimity  which  the  "  Superior 
Race"  fail  to  follow  and  seem  reluctantly  to  recognize.  I 
know  it  is  said  in  retort  of  such  charges  against  the  Southern 
elections  as  I  am  now  reviewing,  that  unfairness  of  equal 
gravity  prevails  in  Northern  elections.  I  hear  it  in  many 
quarters  and  read  it  in  the  papers,  that  in  the  late  exciting 
election  in  Massachusetts,  intimidation  and  bulldozing,  if 
not  so  rough  and  rancorous  as  in  the  South,  were  yet  as 
widespread  and  effective. 

"  I  have  read,  and  yet  I  refuse  to  believe,  that  the  distin- 
guished gentleman  who  made  an  energetic  but  unsuccessful 
canvass  for  the  governorship  of  that  State,  has  indorsed  and 
approved  these  charges,  and  I  have  accordingly  made  my 
resolutions  broad  enough  to  include  their  thorough  investi- 
gation. I  am  not  demanding  fair  elections  in  the  South 
without  demanding  fair  elections  in  the  North  also ;  but  ven- 
turing to  speak  for  the  New  England  States,  of  whose  laws 
and  customs  I  know  something,  I  dare  assert  that  in  the 
late  election  in  Massachusetts,  or  any  of  her  neighboring 
commonwealths,  it  will  be  impossible  to  find  even  one  case 


ELAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  247 

where  a  voter  was  driven  from  the  polls,  where  a  voter  did 
not  have  the  fullest,  fairest,  freest  opportunity  to  cast  the 
ballot  of  his  choice  and  have  it  honestly  and  faithfully 
counted  in  the  "returns.  Suffrage  on  this  continent  was  first 
made  universal  in  New  England,  and  in  the  administration 
of  their  affairs  her  people  have  found  no  other  appeal  neces- 
sary than  that  which  is  addressed  to  their  honesty  of  con- 
viction and  to  their  intelligent  self-interest.  If  there  be 
anything  different  to  disclose,  I  pray  you  show  it  to  us  that 
we  may  amend  our  ways. 

"  But  whenever  a  feeble  protest  is  made  against  such  in- 
justice as  I  have  described  in  the  South,  the  response  we  get 
comes  to  us  in  the  form  of  a  taunt,  '  What  are  you  going  to 
do  about  it  ?'  and  '  How  do  you  propose  to  help  yourselves  ?' 
This  is  the  stereotyped  answer  of  defiance  which  intrenched 
wrong  always  gives  to  inquiring  justice ;  and  those  who  im- 
agine it  to  be  conclusive  do  not  know  the  temper  of  the 
American  people.  For,  let  me  assure  you,  that  against  the 
complicated  outrage  upon  the  right  of  representation  lately 
triumphant  in  the  South,  there  will  be  arrayed  many  phases 
of  public  opinion  in  the  North,  not  often  hitherto  in  harmony. 
Men  who  have  cared  little,  and  affected  to  care  less,  for  the 
rights  or  the  wrongs  of  the  negro,  suddenly  find  that  vast 
monetary  and  commercial  interests,  great  questions  of  reve- 
nue, adjustments  of  tariff,  vast  investments  in  manufactures, 
in  railways,  and  in  mines,  are  under  the  control  of  a  Demo- 
cratic Congress,  whose  majority  was  obtained  by  depriving 
the  negro  of  his  rights  under  a  common  law  Constitution  and 
common  laws.  Men  who  have  expressed  disgust  with  the 
waving  of  bloody  shirts,  and  who  have  been  offended  with 


248          LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

talk  about  negro  equality,  are  beginning  to  perceive  that  the 
pending  question  of  to-day  relates  more  pressingly  to  the 
equality  of  white  men  under  this  government,  and  that,  how- 
ever careless  they  may  be  about  the  rights  of  their  own  race 
and  the  dignity  of  their  own  firesides  and  their  own  kindred. 
"I  know  something  of  public  opinion  in  the  North.  I 
know  a  great  deal  about  the  views,  wishes,  and  purposes  of 
the  Republican  party  of  the  Nation.  Within  that  entire 
great  organization  there  is  not  one  man  whose  opinion  is  en- 
titled to  be  quoted  that  does  not  desire  peace  and  harmony  and 
friendship,  and  a  patriotic  and  fraternal  union  between  the 
North  and  South.  This  wish  is  spontaneous,  instinctive,  uni- 
versal throughout  the  Northern  States ;  and  yet,  among  men 
of  character  and  sense,  there  is  surely  no  need  of  attempting 
to  deceive  ourselves  as  to  the  precise  truth.  First  pure, 
then  peaceable.  Gush  will  not  remove  a  grievance,  and  no 
disguise  of  State's  rights  will  close  the  eyes  of  our  people 
to  the  necessity  of  correcting  a  great  National  wrong.  Nor 
should  the  South  make  the  fatal  mistake  of  concluding  that 
injustice  to  the  negro  is  not  also  injustice  to  the  white  man; 
nor  should  it  ever  be  forgotten  that  for  the  wrongs  of  both 
a  remedy  will  assuredly  be  found.  The  war,  with  all  its 
costly  sacrifices,  was  fought  in  vain  unless  equal  rights  for 
all  classes  be  established  in  all  the  States  in  the  Union. 
And  now,  in  words  which  are  those  of  friendship,  however 
differently  they  may  be  accepted,  I  tell  the  men  of  the 
South,  here  on  this  floor,  and  beyond  this  chamber,  that 
even  if  they  could  strip  the  negro  of  his  constitutional 
rights,  they  can  never  permanently  maintain  the  inequality 
of  white  men  in  this  Nation ;  they  can  never  make  a  white 


ELAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  249 

man's  vote  in  the  South  doubly  as  powerful  in  the  administra- 
tion of  the  government  as  a  white  man's  vote  in  the  North. 

"  In  a  memorable  debate  in  the  House  of  Commons,  Mr. 
Macaulay  reminded  Daniel  O'Connell  when  he  was  moving 
for  repeal,  that  the  English  Whigs  had  endured  calumny, 
abuse,  popular  fury,  loss  of  position,  exclusion  from  Parlia- 
ment, rather  than  the  great  agitator  himself  should  be  less 
than  a  British  subject,  and  Mr.  Macaulay  warned  him  that 
they  would  neyer  suffer  him  to  be  more.  Let  me  now  re- 
mind you  that  the  government,  under  whose  protecting  flag 
we  sit  to-day,  sacrificed  myriads  of  lives  and  expended 
thousands  of  millions  of  treasure  that  our  countrymen  of  the 
South  should  remain  citizens  of  the  United  States,  having 
equal  personal  rights  and  equal  political  privileges  with  all 
other  citizens,  and  I  venture  now  and  here  to  warn  the  men 
of  the  South,  in  the  exact  words  of  Macaulay,  that  we  will 
never  suffer  them  to  be  more !"  [Applause  in  the  galleries, 
which  the  Vice-president  checked  by  rapping  with  his 
gavel.] 

April  22,  1879,  Mr.  Blaine  offered  the  following  resolu- 
tions for  the  consideration  of  the  Senate  : 

"  Resolved,  That  any  radical  change  in  our  present  tariff 
laws  would,  in  the  judgment  of  the  Senate,  be  inopportune, 
would  needlessly  derange  the  business  interests  of  the 
country,  and  would  seriously  retard  that  return  to  prosperity 
for  which  all  should  earnestly  co-operate. 

"Resolved,  That,  in  the  judgment  of  the  Senate,  it  should 
be  the  fixed  policy  of  this  government  to  so  maintain  our 
tariff  for  revenue  as  to  afford  adequate  protection  to  Ameri- 
can labor." 


250  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

On  the  first  of  May,  1878,  Mr.  Elaine  called  up  his  reso- 
lutions and  urged  their  passage.  He  objected  to  the  ap- 
pointment of  a  tariff  commission,  in  regard  to  which  he 
said: 

"I  think  one  of  the  most  mischievous  measures  in  its 
effects,  not  of  course  so  designed  by  the  gentleman  who  may 
move  it,  would  be  to  have  a  roving  commission  on  the  idea 
that,  when  they  get  through  running  hither  and  thither  over 
the  country,  and  examining  this  way  and  that  way  about 
the  tariff,  certain  recommendations  are  to  be  made  and  cer- 
tain changes  are  to  take  place.  Nothing  would  more  ef- 
fectually unsettle  the  business  of  the  country  than  that. 
That  is  only  having  the  agitation  of  the  subject  which  is 
now  disturbing  the  country  by  its  appearance  in  Congress 
transferred  to  a  Commission.  You  only  elongate  the  evil, 
you  only  increase  it,  you  only  keep  drawing  it  out  over  a 
long  time.  There  is  no  form,  in  my  judgment,  which  the 
tariff  discussion  or  tariff  legislation  could  take  that  would  be 
fraught  with  more  mischief  to  the  country  than  to  have  a 
commission  sitting  upon  it.  After  they  had  made  their  re- 
port, it  could  not  effect  legislation  here  or  influence  the 
opinion  of  any  person  in  either  branch  of  Congress  one  way 
or  the  other.  We  have  had  many  of  these  commissions 
upon  divers  and  sundry  subjects,  and  I  have  never  known 
them  to  do  a  particle  of  good,  so  far  as  producing  a  result 
in  practical  legislation." 

After  which  Senator  Beck,  of  Kentucky,  launched  out  on 
a  tirade  against  our  tariff  laws,  in  response  to  which  Mr. 
Blaine  said : 

"Mr.  President:   The  honorable  Senator  from  Kentucky 


ELAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  251 

[Mr.  Beck]  quite  prematurely,  and  without  my  expectation, 
launched  forth  into  an  argument  on  the  subject  of  the  tariff; 
and  very  naturally,  taking  the  side  he  does,  he  quarrels 
with  the  civilization  of  the  nineteenth  century.  He  says  it 
is  the  machinery  that  is  to  blame.  We  have  got  machinery 
in  this  country,  he  says,  that  will  do  the  work  of  one  hun- 
dred and  seventy-five  million  men,  and  there  is  where  all 
the  trouble  is.  Of  course,  the  logical  result  of  the  Senator's 
argument  is  to  abolish  the  locomotive,  the  steam-engine,  and 
all  modern  appliances  of  transportation  and  manufacture, 
and  go  back  to  the  hand-loom  and  the  wagon." 

MR.  BECK — "  Oh,  no  ;  I  beg  pardon." 

MR.  BLAINE — "  I  did  not  interrupt  the  Senator,  and  I 
hope  he  will  allow  me  to  get  through  my  argument." 

MR.  BECK — "You  surely  will  not  say  that  I  intended 
any  such  thing  as  that." 

MR.  BLAINE — "I  do  not  see  any  other  result.  The  Sen- 
ator says  the  whole  trouble  grows  out  of  the  fact  that  we 
have  labor-saving  machinery." 

MR.  BECK — "Allow  me  to  put  the  Senator  right  there. 
My  argument  was  that  we  need  no  protection  because  we 
have  machinery  equal  to  any  other  machinery,  and  that 
machinery  can  compete  in  the  markets  of  the  world.  I 
wish  we  had  more." 

MR.  BLAINE — "  The  Senator  said — he  may  correct  his 
argument  now — that  we  had  the  machinery  here,  which  was 
the  slave  of  the  owners  of  it,  that  they  could  command  it  to 
stand  still  or  to  turn  when  they  chose,  that  the  laborer  was 
their  servant,  and  that  he  had  no  independence  outside  of 
the  machinery.  I  do  not  understand  any  logical  result,  or 


252  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

see  how  the  Senator  can  free  the  laborer  from  the  position 
he  puts  him  in,  but  by  abolishing  the  machinery;  I  do  not 
understand  it  otherwise.  And  I  think  among  the  anomalies 
that  American  politics  turn  up — and  we  meet  many  of  them 
in  this  chamber — among  the  strange  contradictions  that  his- 
tory develops,  is  that  the  seat  of  Henry  Clay,  in  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States,  should  be  the  place  from  which  a  free- 
trade  argument  to  overthrow  the  American  system  and  take 
the  side  of  the  free-trader  should  be  made.  It  is  one  of 
the  anomalies  of  American  politics ;  and  the  argument  of 
the  Senator  of  Kentucky  goes  right  back  to  what  was  said 
before  the  war  by  a  distinguished  Southern  man — that  he 
hoped  to  see  the  day  when  the  old  barter  between  the  En- 
glish ship  that  was  anchored  in  the  Savannah  or  the  Poto- 
mac, or  the  Cooper  or  the  Ashley,  should  be  resumed  with 
the  planter  who  shipped  directly  to  England ;  and  it  is  that 
spirit  to-day  which  holds  in  manacles  and  paralyzes  the  de- 
velopment of  the  Southern  country. 

"  The  Senator  recalled  to  us  the  great  tariff  of  Robert 
J.  Walker,  and  cited  to  us  the  vast  achievement  of  political 
philosophy  and  economy  that  man  presented  to  us  in  his 
three  reports  of  1845,  1846,  and  1847.  Well,  the  tariff  of 
Robert  J.  Walker  had  abundant  opportunity  to  '  run  and  be 
glorified '  in  this  country,  and  it  ran  us  into  bankruptcy,  and 
want,  and  ruin.  It  was  modified  in  1857,  going  still  further 
in  the  same  direction.  The  years  1857-60  were  years  of 
financial  ruin,  and  wide-spread  disaster  and  want,  in  which 
the  laborer  was  not  employed.  Those  four  years  were  much 
more  severe  in  many  portions  of  this  country  than  even  the 
four  past  years  which  we  have  just  gone  through. 


ELAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  253 

"  So,  when  the  Senator  presents  to  us  the  fact  that 
Robert  J.  Walker  established  the  tariff  of  1846,  he  presents 
it  as  a  beacon  of  warning  to  every  man  who  remembers  its 
effects  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  manufac- 
turing industries  of  this  country. 

"There  we  see  developed  a  little  collison  between  our 
friends  on  the  other  side.  When  the  Senator  from  Ken- 
tucky [Mr.  Beck]  was  laying  down  the  Simon  Pure  Demo- 
cratic doctrine  as  it  was  announced  at  the  last  national  san- 
hedrim of  that  party,  the  Senator  from  Pennsylvania  [Mr. 
Wallace]  put  in  an  exception,  and  the  Senator  from  Penn- 
sylvania said  that  it  was  fully  understood  that  the  free- 
trade  side  of  the  tariff  question  was  not  to  be  a  Demo- 
cratic doctrine,  but  that  all  the  congressional  districts  were 
to  be  left  to  determine  that  matter  for  themselves.  Every- 
body knows  that  was  a  contrivance  got  up  for  the  benefit 
of  gentlemen  placed  exactly  in  the  delicate  attitude  of  the 
Senator  from  Pennsylvania,  who  have  protective-tariff  con- 
stituents behind,  allied  with  the  free-trade  party  in  the  coun- 
try at  large;  and  the  guise  which  was  made  for  the  benefit 
of  Mr.  Greeley  in  his  campaign,  was  boldly  thrown  off  at  St. 
Louis  when  Mr.  Tilden  became  the  standard-bearer. 

"  The  Senator  from  Kentucky  warned  us  that  the 
trouble  is  radical,  and  he  called  up  the  fact  of  an  American 
ship  being  launched  a  few  days  since  on  the  Delaware;  and 
he  said  you  may  build  that  ship  at  the  same  rate  that  an 
English  ship  is,  load  her  with  goods  manufactured  in  this 
country  as  cheaply  as  in  England,  and  send  her  to  her  port, 
and  the  trouble  is,  she  has  nothing  to  bring  back.  I  wish 
the  Senator  would  give  me  his  attention  this  moment. 


254  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

"  The  Senator  mentioned  the  City  of  Para  and  the  port 
to  which  a  vessel  was  destined  to  run.  The  City  of  Para 
was  launched  for  a  Brazilian  line,  and  all  the  parade  of  Con- 
gress and  the  President  that  went  over  there  was  to  inaugu- 
rate that  line.  Is  not  that  the  fact?  You  may  mention 
any  other  South  American  port,  but  you  do  not  change  the 
argument  a  particle.  We  take  a  great  deal  more  from  all 
these  countries  than  we  send  to  them,  and  yet  the  Senator 
says  the  trouble  is  we  can  get  no  return  cargo.  His  argu- 
ment does  not  stand  at  all.  Mr.  President,  there  is  no 
more  hurtful  agitation  to-day  in  this  country  than  the  agi- 
tation of  the  tariff.  The  Senator  talks  of  a  lobby  being 
here.  That  is  always  the  cry  when  any  thing  comes  up, 
*  there  is  a  lobby!'  Has  the  Senator  seen  a  tariff  lobby 
here? 

"  There  is  one  very  remarkable  exception  of  raw  material, 
and  that  is  hemp,  which  is  produced  by  the  State  of  Ken- 
tucky. While  the  tariff-makers  took  good  care  to  make  almost 
all  other  raw  materials  cheap,  I  think  the  honorable  Senator 
from  Kentucky  wisely  looked  out  for  his  own  State,  and  got 
a  very  large  duty  put  on  hemp,  jute,  and  all  kindred  grasses. 

"All  I  know  on  the  point  is  that  the  Senator  from  Ken- 
tucky was  a  member  of  the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means, 
and  that  in  the  tariff  bill  reported  there  was  a  very  large 
protection,  which  I  believe  still  exists,  on  hemp.  It  was 
exceptionally  large,  as  contrasted  with  the  other  raw  ma- 
terials needed  for  the  manufactures  of  this  country,  and  I 
always  gave  credit  to  the  Senator  from  Kentucky,  who  is  a 
watchful  and  able  and  zealous  representative  of  his  con- 
stituents, for  getting  that  protection  put  in.  He  took  good 


ELAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  255 

care  to  have  his  own  door-step  swept  very  clean,  but  seems 
to  have  cared  very  little  about  what  became  of  his  neigh- 
bor's. 

"If  the  Senator  can  show  that  there  has  not  been,  from 
the  time  he  was  a  member  of  the  Committe  of  Ways  and 
Means,  an  exceptionally  heavy  duty  on  hemp,  then  he  can 
show  that  I  am  mistaken,  and  I  will  very  gracefully,  or  as 
gracefully  as  I  can,  acknowledge  it;  but  I  think  the  Senator 
from  Kentucky  will  not  be  quite  able  to  show  the  fact.  I 
do  not  wish  to  trench  upon  the  time  given  to  other  measures 
before  the  Senate,  but  this  matter  I  hope  will  come  up  when 
we  can  have  a  freer  discussion." 

Here  the  debate  closed. 

On  the  bill  making  appropriations  for  arrears  of  pensions, 
March  1,  1879,  Senator  Elaine  spoke  as  follows : 

" Mr.  President:  The  Senator  from  Ohio  [Mr.  Thurman] 
indulged  himself  in  a  line  of  remark  which  I  hardly  think 
was  justifiable.  He  was  arraigning  this  entire  side  of  the 
chamber  for  running  at  the  name  of  Jefferson  Davis.  I  wish 
to  say  to  the  honorable  Senator  from  Ohio,  and  to  all  the 
Senators  on  that  side,  that  neither  in  this  chamber  nor  in  the 
other  in  which  I  have  served,  did  I  ever  hear  what  he  would 
call  an  attack  made  on  Jefferson  Davis,  until  he  was  borne 
into  the  chamber  for  some  favor  to  be  asked  and  some  vote 
to  be  exacted.  Who  brought  him  here  to-night?  Who  has 
brought  him  into  Congress  at  different  times?  No  Re- 
publican. No  Republican  Senator  or  Representative  has 
ever  asked  censure  or  comment,  or  reference  to  him ;  but  you 
bring  here  and  ask  us  either  to  vote  or  keep  silent ;  and  if 
we  do  n't  keep  silent,  then  the  honorable  Senator  is  aston- 


256  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

ished  and  indignant,  and  the  honorable  Senator  from  Missis- 
sippi [Mr.  Lamar]  thinks  that  a  wanton  insult  is  intended. 
I  want  the  country  to  understand  that  it  is  that  side  of  the 
chamber  and  not  this  side  that  brings  Jefferson  Davis  to  the 
front."  .  .  . 

MR.  THURMAN — "  I  wish  to  ask  the  Senator  to  explain 
what  he  means  by  bringing  Jefferson  Davis  here  ?  Does  he 
mean  introducing  the  proposition  to  pension  soldiers  who 
served  in  Mexico?" 

MR.  ELAINE — "  Yes,  the  measure  you  are  agitating  brings 
him  here." 

MR.  THURMAN — "  Then  it  is  a  crime  ?" 

MR.  ELAINE — "  Not  a  crime  at  all.  I  am  not  charging 
the  Senator  with  a  crime,  but  I  resent  with  some  feeling 
that  the  Senator  should  look  over  to  this  side  of  the  chamber 
and  complain  that  we  are  taking  some  extraordinary  course 
with  the  name  of  Jefferson  Davis.  We  do  not  bring  him 
here.  You  bear  his  mangled  remains  before  us,  and  then  if 
we  do  not  happen  to  view  them  with  the  same  admiration 
that  seems  to  inspire  the  Senator  from  Ohio,  we  are  doing 
something  derogatory  to  our  own  dignity  and  to  the  honor 
of  the  country,  and  when  the  honorable  Senator  from  Mis- 
sissippi comes  to  his  defense,  the  first  word  he  had  to  speak 
for  Mr.  Davis  was  that  he  never  counseled  insurrection 
against  the  government.  I  took  the  words  down." 

MR.  OGLESBY — "  Since  when  ?" 

MR.  ELAINE — "Since  the  close  of  the  war.  He  has 
never  counseled  insurrection !  Let  us  be  thankful.  Why 
should  we  not  pension  a  man  who  has  shown  such  loyalty 
that  he  has  never  counseled  insurrection  ?  That  is  from  the 


ELAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  257 

Representative  of  his  own  State.  I  took  the  words  down 
when  he  spoke  them.  I  was  amazed ;  I  did  not  exactly  con- 
sider the  words  of  the  honorable  Senator  from  Mississippi  a 
wanton  insult  to  apply  to  me  or  anybody  else,  but  I  con- 
sider them  to  be  most  extraordinary  words,  that  when  plead- 
ing the  cause  of  Jefferson  Davis  at  the  bar  of  the' American 
Senate  to  be  pensioned  on  its  roll  of  honor,  his  personal 
representative,  his  associate,  his  friend,  his  follower,  com- 
mends him  to  the  American  people,  because  he  has  been  so 
loyal  that  he  has  never  counseled  insurrection  since  the  war 
was  over. 

"  This  is  the  man  brought  in  here  who,  according  to  the 
Senator  from  Mississippi,  is  to  go  down  to  history  the  peer 
of  Washington  and  Hampden,  fighting  in  the  same  cause, 
entitled  to  the  same  niche  in  history,  inspired  by  the  same 
patriotic  motives,  to  be  admired  for  the  same  self-conse- 
cration. 

"  Let  me  tell  the  honorable  Senator  from  Mississippi, 
that  in  all  the  years  that  I  have  served  in  Congress  I  have 
never  voluntarily  brought  the  name  of  Jefferson  Davis  before 
either  branch,  but  I  tell  him  that  he  is  asking  humanity  to 
forget  its  instincts  and  patriotism  to  be  changed  to  crime 
before  he  will  find  impartial  history  place  Mr.  Jefferson  Davis 
anywhere  in  the  roll  that  has  for  its  brightest  and  greatest 
names  George  Washington  and  John  Hampden." 

After  Mr.  Lamar  had  replied  to  this  speech,  Mr.  Elaine 
resumed  as  follows  : 

"  Why,  Mr.  President,  does  the  honorable  Senator  from 
Mississippi  declare  that  the  policy  of  the  government  of  the 
United  States,  administered  as  it  has  been  through  the  R-e- 

17 


258  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

publican  party,  has  been  one  of  intolerance  toward  those 
who  were  prominent  in  the  war — if  I  may  use  the  euphemism, 
and  leave  out  rebellion — which  is  offensive  to  his  ears?  Do 
I  understand  the  honorable  Senator  to  maintain  here  on  this 
floor  that  the  government  of  the  United  States  has  been  in- 
tolerant ?  Certainly  the  Senator  does  not  mean  that." 

After  a  colloquy  with  Mr.  Lamar,  Mr.  Elaine  resumed 
thus : 

"The  government  of  the  United  States  never  disfran- 
chised or  put  under  political  disabilities  more  than  fourteen 
thousand  men  in  the  entire  South.  Out  of  two  millions  who 
were  in  the  war  it  never  disfranchised  over  fourteen  thou- 
sand men.  There  are  not  two  hundred  left  to-day  with  polit- 
ical disabilities  upon  them.  There  is  not  one  that  ever 
respectfully  or  any  other  way  petitioned  to  be  relieved  and 
was  refused.  I  know  very  well  what  the  honorable  Sena- 
tor from  Ohio  meant,  when  he  said  that  Hon.  Jefferson 
Davis  should  be  commended  because  he  was  not  an  office- 
seeker  and  had  not  asked  to  be  relieved  of  disabilities. 
Why,  if  the  newspapers  are  to  be  credited,  especially  those 
in  the  Southern  Democratic  interest,  Mr.  Davis  is  a  candi- 
date for  office ;  he  is  pledged  to  sit  on  the  other  side  of  this 
chamber  two  years  hence,  and  the  honorable  Senator  from 
Ohio  will  in  the  next  Congress  with  his  eloquence — I  am 
predicting  now — urge  that  these  disabilities  be  removed  from 
him.  I  predict  further,  that  he  will  urge  it  without  Jeffer- 
son Davis  paying  the  respect  to  the  great  government  against 
which  he  rebelled,  simply  asking  in  respectful  language  that 
disabilities  be  taken  from  him.  He  has  never  asked  it  ;  I 
am  very  sure  that  another  great  leader  in  the  South,  Mr. 


ELAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  259 

Toombs,  of  Georgia,  has  boasted  that  he  would  never  do  it, 
and  in  the  House  of  Representatives  three  years  ago,  when 
the  general  amnesty  bill  was  pending  and  it  was  proposed 
that  the  amnesty  should  be  granted  merely  on  the  condition 
that  it  should  be  asked  for  by  each  person  desiring  it,  that 
it  was  resisted  to  the  bitter  end — this  great  government  was 
to  go  to  them  and  ask  them  if  they  would  take  it.  The 
action  of  the  Democratic  House  of  Representatives — I  am 
speaking  of  the  past  now,  which  is  quite  within  parliamen- 
tary limits — the  action  of  the  Democratic  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives was  not  that  Jefferson  Davis  might  have  his  dis- 
abilities removed  upon  respectful  petition,  but  that  we  should 
go  to  him  and  petition  him  to  allow  us  to  remove  them." 

When  the  bill  to  restrict  Chinese  emigration  was  under 
consideration  in  the  spring  of  1879,  Mr.  Elaine  took  a  de- 
cided stand  in  its  favor. 

The  following  speech  by  Mr.  Elaine,  was  delivered  in  the 
Senate,  April  14,  1879  : 

[The  Senate  having  under  consideration  the  bill  (H.  R. 
No.  1),  making  appropriations  for  the  support  of  the  army 
for  the  fiscal  year  ending  June  30,  1880,  and  for  other  pur- 
poses.] 

"Mr.  President:  The  existing  section  of  the  Revised 
Statutes  numbered  2002,  reads  thus  : 

" '  No  military  or  naval  officer,  or  other  person  engaged  in  the 
civil,  military,  or  naval  service  of  the  United  States,  shall  order, 
bring,  keep,  or  have  under  his  authority  or  control,  any  troops  or 
armed  men  at  the  place  where  any  general  or  special  election  is 
held  in  any  State,  unless  it  be  necessary  to  repel  the  armed  enemies 
of  the  United  States,  or  to  keep  the  peace  at  the  polls.' 


260  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

• 

"The  object  of  the  proposed  section,  which  has  just  been 
read  at  the  clerk's  desk,  is  to  get  rid  of  the  eight  closing 
words,  namely,  'or  to  keep  the  peace  at  the  polls,'  and 
therefore  the  mode  of  legislation  proposed  in  the  Army  Bill 
now  before  the  Senate  is  an  unusual  mode;  it  is  an  extra- 
ordinary mode.  If  you  want  to  take  off  a  single  sentence 
at  the  end  of  a  section  in  the  Revised  Statutes  the  ordinary 
way  is  to  strike  off  those  words,  but  the  mode  chosen  in  this 
bill  is  to  repeat  and  re-enact  the  whole  section,  leaving  those 
few  words  out.  While  I  do  not  wish  to  be  needlessly  suspi- 
cious on  a  small  point,  I  am  quite  persuaded  that  this  did 
not  happen  by  accident,  but  that  it  came  by  design.  If  I 
may  so  speak,  it  came  of  cunning,  the  intent  being  to  create 
the  impression  that,  whereas  the  Republicans  in  the  admin- 
istration of  the  general  government  had  been  using  troops 
right  and  left,  hither  and  thither,  in  every  direction,  as  soon 
as  the  Democrats  got  power  they  enacted  this  section.  I 
can  imagine  Democratic  candidates  for  Congress  all  over  the 
country  reading  this  section  to  gaping  and  listening  audiences 
as  one  of  the  first  offsprings  of  Democratic  reform,  whereas 
every  word  of  it,  every  syllable  of  it,  from  its  first  to  its 
last,  is  the  the  enactment  of  a  Republican  Congress. 

"I  repeat  that  this  unusual  form  presents  a  dishonest 
issue,  whether  so  intended  or  not.  It  presents  the  issue 
that  as  soon  as  the  Democrats  got  possession  of  the  Federal 
Government  they  proceeded  to  enact  the  clause  which  is 
thus  expressed.  The  law  was  passed  by  a  Republican  Con- 
gress in  1865.  There  were  forty-six  Senators  sitting  in  this 
Chamber  at  the  time,  of  whom  only  ten,  or  at  most  eleven, 
were  Democrats.  The  House  of  Representatives  was  over- 


ELAINE  IN  P  TJBLIC  LIFE.  261 

whelmingly  Republican.  We  were  in  the  midst  of  a  war. 
The  Republican  administration  had  a  million,  or  possibly 
twelve  hundred  thousand,  bayonets  at  it  command.  Thus 
circumstanced  and  thus  surrounded,  with  the  amplest  possi- 
ble power  to  interfere  with  elections  had  they  so  designed, 
with  soldiers  in  every  hamlet  and  county  of  the  United 
States,  the  Republican  party  themselves  placed  that  pro- 
vision on  the  statute-book,  and  Abraham  Lincoln,  their 
President,  signed  it. 

"I  beg  you  to  observe,  Mr.  President,  that  this  is  the 
first  instance  in  the  legislation  of  the  United  States  in 
which  any  restrictive  clause  whatever  was  put  upon  the 
statute-book  in  regard  to  the  use  of  troops  at  the  polls. 
The  Republican  party  did  it  with  the  Senate  and  the  House 
in  their  control.  Abraham  Lincoln  signed  it  when  he  was 
commander-in-chief  of  an  army  larger  than  ever  Napoleon 
Bonaparte  had  at  his  command.  So  much  by  way  of  cor- 
recting an  ingenious  and  studied  attempt  at  misrepre- 
sentation. 

"  The  alleged  object  is  to  strike  out  the  few  words  that 
authorize  the  use  of  troops  to  keep  peace  at  the  polls. 
This  country  has  been  alarmed — I  rather  think,  indeed, 
amused — at  the  great  effort  made  to  create  a  wide-spred  im- 
pression that  the  Republican  party  relies  for  its  popular 
strength  upon  the  use  of  the  bayonet.  This  Democratic 
Congress  has  attempted  to  give  a  bad  name  to  this  country 
throughout  the  civilized  world,  and  to  give  it  on  a  false 
issue.  They  have  raised  an  issue  that  has  no  foundation  in 
fact — that  is  false  in  whole  and  detail,  false  in  the  charge, 
false  in  all  the  specifications.  That  impression  sought  to  be 


262  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

created,  as  I  say,  not  only  throughout  the  North  American 
continent,  but  in  Europe  to-day,  is  that  elections  are  at- 
tempted in  this  country  to  be  controlled  by  the  bayonet. 

"  I  denounce  it  here  as  a  false  issue.  I  am  not  at  lib- 
erty to  say  that  any  gentleman  making  the  issue  knows  it 
to  be  false;  I  hope  he  does  not;  but  I  am  going  to  prove  to 
him  that  it  is  false,  and  that  there  is  not  a  solitary  inch  of 
solid  earth  on  which  to  rest  the  foot  of  any  man  that  makes 
that  issue.  I  have  in  my  hand  an  official  transcript  of  the 
location  and  the  number  of  all  the  troops  of  the  United 
States  east  of  Omaha.  By  '  east  of  Omaha,'  I  mean  all 
the  United  States  east  of  the  Mississippi  River  and  that  belt 
of  States  that  border  the  Mississippi  River  on  the  west,  in- 
cluding forty-one  million  at  least  out  of  the  forty-five  mill- 
ion of  people  that  this  country  is  supposed  to  contain  to- 
day. In  that  magnificent  area — I  will  not  pretend  to  state 
its  extent — but  with  forty-one  million  people,  how  many 
troops  of  the  United  States  are  there  to-day?  Would  any 
Senator  on  the  opposite  side  like  to  guess,  or  would  he  like 
to  state  how  many  men  with  muskets  in  their  hands  there 
are  in  the  vast  area  I  have  named?  There  are  two 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  ninety-seven !  And  not  one 
more. 

"From  the  headwaters  of  the  Mississippi  River  to  the 
lakes,  and  down  the  great  chain  of  lakes,  and  down  the 
Saint  Lawrence,  and  down  the  valley  of  the  Saint  John, 
and  down  the  Saint  Croix,  striking  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  and 
following  it  down  to  Key  West,  around  the  gulf,  up  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Mississippi  again,  a  frontier  of  eight  thousand 
miles,  either  bordering  on  the  ocean  or  upon  foreign  terri- 


ELAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  263 

tory  is  guarded  by  these  troops.  Within  this  domain  forty- 
five  fortifications  are  manned  and  eleven  arsenals  protected. 
There  are  sixty  troops  to  every  million  of  people.  In  the 
South  I  have  the  entire  number  in  each  State  and  will 
give  it. 

"  I  believe  the  Senator  from  Delaware  is  alarmed,  greatly 
alarmed  about  the  over-riding  of  the  popular  ballot  by  the 
troops  of  the  United  States !  In  Delaware  there  is  not  a 
single  armed  man,  not  one.  The  United  States  has  not  even 
one  soldier  in  the  State. 

"  The  honorable  Senator  from  West  Virginia  [Mr.  Here- 
ford], on  Friday  last,  lashed  himself  into  a  passion,  or  at 
least  into  a  perspiration,  over  the  wrongs  of  his  State, 
trodden  down  by  the  iron  heel  of  military  despotism. 
There  is  not  a  solitary  man  of  the  United  States,  uni- 
formed, on  the  soil  of  West  Virginia,  and  there  has  not  been 
for  years. 

"  In  Maryland  ?  I  do  not  know  whether  my  esteemed 
friend  from  Maryland  [Mr.  Whyte]  has  been  greatly 
alarmed  or  not ;  but  at  Fort  McHenry,  guarding  the  entrance 
to  the  beautiful  harbor  of  his  beautiful  city,  there  are  one 
hundred  and  ninety-two  artillerymen  located. 

"  In  Virginia,  there  is  a  school  of  practice  at  Fortress 
Monroe.  My  honorable  friend  [Mr.  Withers],  who  has 
charge  of  this  bill,  knows  very  well,  and  if  he  does  not  I 
will  tell  him,  that  outside  of  that  school  of  practice  at  For- 
tress Monroe,  which  has  two  hundred  and  eighty-two  men 
in  it,  there  is  not  a  federal  soldier  on  the  soil  of  Virginia — 
not  one. 

"  North  Carolina.     Are    the    Senators    from   that    State 


264          LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

alarmed  at  the  immediate  and  terrible  prospect  of  being 
over-run  by  the  army  of  the  United  States  ?  On  the 
whole  soil  of  North  Carolina  there  are  but  thirty  soldiers 
guarding  a  fort  at  the  mouth  of  Cape  Fear  River — -just 
thirty. 

"  South  Carolina.  I  do  not  see  a  Senator  on  the  floor 
from  that  State.  There  are  one  hundred  and  twenty  artil- 
lerymen guarding  the  approaches  to  Charleston  Harbor,  and 
not  another  soldier  on  her  soil. 

"Georgia.  Does  my  gallant  friend  from  Georgia  [Mr. 
Gordon],  who  knows  better  than  I  the  force  and  strength  of 
military  organization — the  senior  Senator,  and  the  junior 
also — are  both  or  either  of  those  Senators  alarmed  at  the 
presence  of  twenty -nine  soldiers  in  Georgia  ?  [Laughter.] 
There  are  just  twenty-nine  there. 

"  Florida  has  one  hundred  and  eighty-two  at  three  sepa- 
rate posts,  principally  guarding  the  navy  yard,  near  which 
my  friend  on  the  opposite  side  [Mr.  Jones]  lives. 

"Tennessee.  Is  the  honorable  Senator  from  Tennessee 
[Mr.  Bailey]  alarmed  at  the  progress  of  military  despotism 
in  his  State?  There  is  not  a  single  federal  soldier  on  the 
soil  of  Tennessee — not  .one. 

"Kentucky.  I  see  both  the  honorable  Senators  from 
Kentucky  here.  They  have  equal  cause  with  Tennessee  to 
be  alarmed,  for  there  is  not  a  federal  soldier  in  Kentucky — 
not  one  ! 

"  Missouri.     Not  one. 

"Arkansas.     Fifty-seven  in  Arkansas. 

"Alabama.  I  think  my  friend  from  Alabama  [Mr. 
Morgan]  is  greatly  excited  over  this  question,  and  in  his 


ELAINE  IN  P  US LIC  LIFE.  265 

State  there  are  thirty-two  federal  soldiers  located  at  an 
arsenal  of  the  United  States. 

"  Mississippi.  The  great  State  of  Mississippi,  that  is  in 
danger  of  being  trodden  under  the  iron  hoof  of  military 
power,  has  not  a  federal  soldier  on.  its  soil. 

"  Louisiana  has  two  hundred  and  thirty-nine. 

"  Texas,  apart  from  the  regiments  that  guard  the 
frontier  on  the  Rio  Grande  and  the  Indian  frontier,  has 
not  one. 

"And  4;he  entire  South  has  eleven  hundred  and  fifty-five 
soldiers  to  intimidate,  over-run,  oppress,  and  destroy  the 
liberties  of  fifteen  million  people !  In  the  Southern  States 
there  are  twelve  hundred  and  three  counties.  If  you  dis- 
tribute the  soldiers  there  is  not  quite  one  for  each  county ; 
and  when  I  give  the  counties  I  give  them  from  the  census 
of  1870.  If  you  distribute  them  territorially  there  is  one 
for  every  seven  hundred  square  miles  of  territory,  so  that 
if  you  make  a  territorial  distribution,  I  would  remind  the 
honorable  Senator  from  Delaware,  if  I  saw  him  in  his  seat, 
that  the  quota  for  his  State  would  be  three — "  one  ragged 
sergeant  and  two  abreast,"  as  the  old  song  has  it.  [Laugh- 
ter.] That  is  the  force  ready  to  destroy  the  liberties  of 
Delaware ! 

"  There  are  thirteen  thousand  polling  places  in  the  South, 
and  there  are  eleven  hundred  and  fifty-five  soldiers  down 
there,  and  this  great  intimidation  is  to  be  carried  on  by  one 
soldier  distributing  himself  around  to  twelve  polling  places. 
That  is  the  intimidation  that  threatens  the  South  just  now; 
and  I  am  just  reminded  by  the  honorable  Senator  from  Wis- 
consin [Mr.  Carpenter]  that  the  Supreme  Court  decided — 


266  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

a  fact  I  did  not  recall  at  the  moment — that  the  war  did  not 
close  till  April,  1866;  a  state  of  peace  had  not  come,  and 
therefore  the  honorable  Senator  from  Kentucky  does  not 
bring  himself  within  the  line  of  evidence.  He  only  saw 
troops  there  in  1865,  during  the  war.  Has  he  seen  them 
since  April,  1866,  in  time  of  peace?" 

MR.  WILLIAMS— "No." 

MR.  BLAINE — "He  has  not.  [Laughter.]  Then  I  should 
like  some  other  Senator,  if  there  is  any  one  who  has  testi- 
mony to  give;  I  should  like  to  see  some  other  Senator  that 
has  seen  troops  around  the  polls,  bulldozing,  and  brow-beat- 
ing, and  intimidating,  and  controlling  the  popular  wish,  to 
rise,  if  he  has  any  testimony  to  give  on  the  subject." 

MR.  LOGAN — "If  the  Senator  will  allow  me,  perhaps  I 
can  make  a  statement  about  soldiers  in  Kentucky  in  1865 
myself.  I  happened  to  be  in  Louisville  in  1865,  at  the  time 
of  an  election  for  Congress,  when  General  Rosseau  was  a 
candidate  for  Representative  in  Congress.  I  was  stationed 
at  Louisville  and  had  sixty-five  thousand  soldiers  under  my 
command.  I  was  there  on  the  day  of  election,  and  I  made 
a  speech  there  the  night  before  the  election.  Those  sixty- 
five  thousand  soldiers  were  stationed  all  around  Louisville, 
and  I  never  saw  a  more  quiet,  peaceable  election  in  my  life, 
and  under  orders,  the  soldiers  were  kept  from  the  polls  and 
out  of  the  city  during  the  day  of  the  election,  under  my 
own  orders." 

MR.  BLAINE — "All  we  get,  then,  in  the  testimony  is, 
that  the  Senator  from  Kentucky  says  he  saw  troops  in  his 
State  during  the  war,  and  the  Senator  from  West  Virginia 
says  he  saw  them  in  his  State  once  since  the  war — ten 


ELAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  267 

years  ago.  That  is  the  amount  of  actual  testimony  we  get 
on  the  subject.  Now,  Mr.  President,  I  say  this  bill  connects 
itself  directly  with  the  provisions  which  are  inserted  by 
the  Democratic  caucus  in  the  Legislative,  Executive,  and 
Judicial  bill.  The  two  stand  together ;  they  cannot  be  sep- 
arated ;  because  if  to-day  we  enact  that  no  civil  officer  what- 
ever shall  appear  under  any  circumstances  with  armed  men 
at  the  polls — I  am  not  speaking  of  federal  troops,  or  mili- 
tary, or  naval  officers — I  should  like  to  know  how,  if  you 
strike  that  out  to-day  in  the  military  bill  that  is  pending, 
you  are  going  to  enforce  any  provisions  of  the  election 
laws,  even  if  we  leave  them  standing.  .  .  . 

"  There,  too,  is  the  Congressional  library  that  has  be- 
come the  pride  of  the  whole  American  people  for  its  mag- 
nificent growth  and  extent.  You  say  it  shall  not  have  one 
dollar  to  take  care  of  it,  much  less  add  a  new  book,  unless 
the  President  signs  these  bills.  There  is  the  Department 
of  State  that  we  think  throughout  the  history  of  the  gov- 
ernment has  been  a  great  pride  to  this  country  for  the  abil- 
ity with  which  it  has  conducted  our  foreign  affairs;  it  is 
also  to  be  starved.  You  say  we  shall  not  have  any  inter- 
course with  foreign  nations,  not  a  dollar  shall  be  appropri- 
ated therefor,  unless  the  President  signs  these  bills.  There 
is  the  light-house  board,  that  provides  for  the  beacons 
and  the  warnings  on  seventeen  thousand  miles  of  sea  and 
gulf  and  lake  coast.  You  say  those  lights  shall  all  go  out, 
and  not  a  dollar  shall  be  appropriated  for  the  board,  if  the 
President  does  not  sign  these  bills.  There  are  the  mints 
of  the  United  States  at  Philadelphia,  New  Orleans,  Denver, 
San  Francisco,  coining  silver  and  coining  gold — not  a  dollar 


268  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

shall  be  appropriated  for  them  if  the  President  does  not 
sign  these  bills.  There  is  the  Patent  Office,  the  patents  is- 
sued which  embody  the  inventions  of  the  country — not  a 
dollar  for  them.  The  Pension  Bureau  shall  cease  its  oper- 
ations unless  these  bills  are  signed,  and  patriotic  soldiers 
may  starve.  The  Agricultural  Bureau,  the  Post-office  De- 
partment, every  one  of  the  great  executive  functions  of  the 
government,  is  threatened,  taken  by  the  throat,  highway- 
man-style, collared  on  the  highway,  commanded  to  stand  and 
deliver  in  the  name  of  the  Democratic  Congressional  caucus. 
That  is  what  it  is ;  simply  that.  No  committee  of  this  Con- 
gress, in  either  branch,  has  ever  recommended  that  legisla- 
tion— not  one.  Simply  a  Democratic  caucus  has  done  it. 

"  Of  course  this  is  new.  We  are  learning  something 
every  day.  I  think  you  may  search  the  records  of  the 
Federal  Government  in  vain ;  it  will  take  some  one  much 
more  industrious  in  that  search  than  I  have  ever  been,  and 
much  more  observing  than  I  have  ever  been,  to  find  any 
possible  parallel  or  any  sensible  suggestion  in  our  past  his- 
tory of  any  such  thing.  Most  of  the  Senators  who  sit  in 
this  chamber  can  remember  some  vetoes  by  Presidents  that 
shook  this  country  to  its  center  with  excitement.  The  veto 
of  the  National-Bank  bill  by  Jackson  in  1832,  remembered 
by  the  oldest  in  this  chamber ;  the  veto  of  the  National- 
Bank  bill  in  1841  by  Tyler,  remembered  by  those  not  the 
oldest,  shook  this  country  with  a  political  excitement  which 
up  to  that  time  had  scarcely  a  parallel ;  and  it  was  believed — 
whether  rightfully  or  wrongfully  is  no  matter — it  was  be- 
lieved by  those  who  advocated  those  financial  measures  at 
the  time,  that  they  were  of  the  very  last  importance  to  the 


ELAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  269 

well-being  and  prosperity  of  the  people  of  the  Union. 
That  was  believed  by  the  great  and  shining  lights  of 
that  day.  It_  was  believed  by  that  man  of  imperial 
character  and  imperious  will,  the  great  Senator  from  Ken- 
tucky. It  was  believed  by  Mr.  Webster,  the  greatest 
of  New  England  Senators.  When  Jackson  vetoed  the  one 
or  Tyler  vetoed  the  other,  did  you  ever  hear  a  suggestion 
that  those  bank  charters  should  be  put  on  appropriation  bills, 
or  that  there  should  not  be  a  dollar  to  run  the  government 
until  they  were  signed?  So  far  from  it  that,  in  1841,  when 
temper  was  at  its  height ;  when  the  Whig  party,  in  addition 
to  losing  their  great  measure,  lost  it  under  the  sting  and 
the  irritation  of  what  they  believed  was  a  desertion  by  the 
President  whom  they  had  chosen;  and  when  Mr.  Clay, 
goaded  by  all  these  considerations,  rose  to  debate  the  ques- 
tion in  the  Senate,  he  repelled  the  suggestion  of  William  C. 
Rives,  of  Virginia,  who  attempted  to  make  upon  him  the 
point  that  he  had  indulged  in  some  threat  involving  the  in- 
dependence of  the  Executive.  Mr.  Clay  rose  to  his  full 
height,  and  thus  responded  : 

"  I  said  nothing  whatever  of  any  obligation  on  the  part  of  the 
President  to  conform  his  judgment  to  the  opinions  of  the  Senate 
and  House  of  Representatives,  although  the  Senator  argued  as 
if  I  had,  and  persevered  in  so  arguing  after  repeated  correc- 
tion. I  said  no  such  thing.  I  know  and  I  respect  the  perfect  in- 
dependence of  each  department,  acting  within  its  proper  sphere, 
of  the  other  departments." 

"A  leading  Democrat,  an  eloquent  man,  a  man  who  has 
courage  and  frankness  and  many  good  qualities,  has  boasted 
publicly  that  the  Democracy  are  in  power  for  the  first  time 


270  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

in  eighteen  years,  and  they  do  not  intend  to  stop  until  they 
have  wiped  out  every  vestige  of  every  war  measure.  Well, 
'  forewarned  is  forearmed,'  and  you  begin  appropriately  on 
a  measure  that  has  the  signature  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  I 
think  the  picture  is  a  striking  one,  when  you  hear  these 
words  from  a  man  who  was  then  in  arms  against  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States,  doing  his  best  to  destroy  it, 
exerting  every  power  given  him  in  a  bloody  and  terrible  re- 
bellion against  the  authority  of  the  United  States,  and  when 
Abraham  Lincoln  was  marching  at  the  same  time  to  his 
martyrdom  in  its  defense  !  Strange  times  have  fallen  upon 
us,  that  those  of  us  who  had  the  great  honor  to  be  asso- 
ciated in  higher  or  lower  degree  with  Mr.  Lincoln,  in  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  government,  should  live  to  hear  men  in 
public  life,  and  on  the  floors  of  Congress,  fresh  from  the 
battle-fields  of  the  rebellion,  threatening  the  people  of  the 
United  States  that  the  Democratic  party,  in  power  for  the 
first  time  in  eighteen  years,  proposes  not  to  stay  its  hand 
until  every  vestige  of  the  war  measures  has  been  wiped  out ! 
"  The  late  Vice-president  of  the  Confederacy  boasted — 
perhaps  I  had  better  say  stated — that  for  sixty  out  of  the 
seventy-two  years  preceding  the  outbreak  of  the  rebellion, 
from  the  foundation  of  the  government,  the  South,  though 
in  a  minority,  had,  by  combining  with  what  he  termed  the 
anti-centralists  in  the  North,  ruled  the  country ;  and  in  1866 
the  same  gentleman  indicated  in  a  speech,  I  think  before  the 
Legislature  of  Georgia,  that  by  a  return  to  Congress  the 
South  might  repeat  the  experiment  with  the  same  successful 
result.  I  read  that  speech  at  the  time ;  but  I  little  thought 
I  should  live  to  see  so  near  a  fulfillment  of  its  prediction.  I 


ELAINE  IN  P  UBLIC  LIFE.  271 

see  here  to-day  two  great  measures  emanating,  as  I  have 
said,  not  from  a  committee  of  either  House,  but  from  a 
Democratic  caucus  in  which  the  South  has  an  overwhelming 
majority,  two-tKirds  in  the  House,  and  out  of  the  forty-two 
Senators  on  the  other  side  of  this  chamber  professing  the 
Democratic  faith,  thirty  are  from  the  South — twenty-three, 
a  positive  and  pronounced  majority,  having  themselves  been 
participants  in  the  war  against  the  Union,  either  in  military 
or  civil  station.  So  that  it  is  a  matter  of  fact,  plainly  dedu- 
cible  from  counting  your  fingers,  that  the  legislation  of  this 
country  to-day,  shaped  and  fashioned  in  a  Democratic  caucus 
where  the  Confederates  of  the  South  hold  the  majority,  is 
the  realization  of  Mr.  Stephens's  prophecy.  And,  very  ap- 
propriately, the  House  under  that  control  and  the  Senate  un- 
der that  control,  embodying  thus  the  entire  legislative  powers 
of  the  government,  deriving  its  political  strength  from  the 
South,  elected  from  the  South,  say  to  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  at  the  head  of  the  executive  department  of 
the  government,  elected  as  he  was  from  the  North — elected 
by  the  whole  people,  but  elected  as  a  Northern  man ;  elected 
on  Republican  principles,  elected  in  opposition  to  the  party 
that  controls  both  branches  of  Congress  to-day — they  natu- 
rally say,  'You  shall  not  exercise  your  constitutional  power 
to  veto  a  bill.' 

"All  the  war  measures  of  Abraham  Lincoln  are  to  be 
wiped  out,  say  leading  Democrats !  The  Bourbons,  of 
France,  busied  themselves,  I  believe,  after  the  Restoration, 
in  removing  every  trace  of  Napoleon's  power  and  grandeur, 
even  chiseling  the  '  N '  from  public  monuments  raised  to  per- 
petuate his  glory;  but  the  dead  man's  hand  from  Saint. 


272  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

Helena,  reached  out  and  destroyed  them  in  their  pride  and 
in  their  folly.  And  I  tell  the  Senators  on  the  other  side  of 
this  chamber  —  I  tell  the  Democratic  party  North  and 
South — South  in  the  lead  and  North  following — that  the 
slow,  unmoving  finger  of  scorn,  from  the  tomb  of  the 
martyred  President  on  the  prairies  of  Illinois,  will  wither 
and  destroy  them.  '  Though  dead  he  speaketh.' "  [Great 
applause  in  the  galleries.] 

The  PRESIDING  OFFICER  (MR.  ANTHONY,  in  the  chair) — 
"  The  sergeant-at-arms  will  preserve  order  in  the  galleries, 
and  arrest  persons  manifesting  approbation  or  disappro- 
bation." 

MR.  BLALNE — "When  you  present  these  bills  with  these 
threats  to  the  living  President,  who  bore  the  commission  of 
Abraham  Lincoln,  and  served  with  honor  in  the  army  of  the 
Union,  which  Lincoln  restored  and  preserved,  I  can  think 
of  only  one  appropriate  response  from  his  lips  or  pen.  He 
should  say  to  you,  with  all  the  scorn  befitting  his  station : 
'  Is  thy  servant  a  dog  that  he  should  do  this  thing  ?' " 

Mr.  Elaine's  services  in  the  Senate  proved  conclusively 
that  "  the  chiefest  action  for  a  man  of  spirit  is,  never  to  be 
out  of  action."  His  industry  was  great,  his  performance 
prodigious.  His  speeches  and  a  fair  history  of  his  public 
acts  would  fill  several  volumes.  The  speeches  already  pre- 
sented, in  whole  or  in  part,  sufficiently  indicate  his  position 
upon  the  leading  questions  of  the  day.  On  the  death  of 
Senator  Chandler  he  delivered  a  memorial  address  which 
was  the  fitting  forerunner  of  his  eulogy  on  the  martyred 
Garfield. 

In  the  Republican  Convention  of  1880,  Mr.  Elaine  was 


ELAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  273 

one  of  the  most  prominent  candidates  for  the  presidential 
nomination,  and  was  supported  through  thirty-five  ballots 
with  all  that  enthusiasm  and  energy  for  which  his  friends 
have  been  pre-eminent  in  three  successive  conventions  of  the 
party.  On  the  thirty-sixth  ballot  his  principal  strength,  to- 
gether with  that  of  Messrs  Sherman  and  Washburne,  went 
over  to  General  Garfield,  securing  his  nomination. 

March  4,  1881,  Mr.  Elaine  entered  President  Garfield's 
Cabinet  as  Secretary  of  State.  No  happier  selection  could 
have  been  made.  These  two  leading  minds  were  in  full 
sympathy  upon  the  questions  of  policy  then  before  the 
country,  and  in  perfect  accord  as  to  what  constitutes  a 
State  and  what  a  Nation.  They  had  learned  to  distinguish 
between  nationality  and  confederacy  in*  an  expensive  school, 
and  were  not  likely  to  disregard  the  moral  force  of  the  les- 
son. There  was  a  measure  of  agreeableness  between  them 
which  seemed  to  promptly  assure  the  country, that  good 
work  would  be  done,  and  unquestionably  this  assurance 
would  have  been  justified  had  President  Garfield  lived. 
After  the  cruel  assassination  of  our  last  hero-statesman  who 
occupied  the  chair  of  the  Nation,  Mr.  Elaine  was  virtually 
President  for  eighty  days — till  death  came  and  relieved  the 
real  Executive.  The  country  understood  this  fact  and 
rested  easily  upon  it,  for  the  people  had  confidence  in  the 
man  who  was  recognized  as  the  President's  confidential  ad- 
viser and  faithful  friend.  And  they  had  confidence  in  him 
for  his  own  great  qualities. 

All  the  world  remembers  and  will  not  soon  forget  the 
place  which  Mr.  Elaine  held  in  public  sympathy,  on  account 
of  his  manly  and  noble  bearing  toward  the  family  of  the 

18 


274 


LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 


dying  President.  Every  day,  during  the  time  when  the 
wounded  Garfield  lay  waiting  the  final  summons,  the  news- 
papers bore  to  the  American  public  the  continued  story  of 


BLAINE  READING  MESSAGES  OF  SYMPATHY  TO  MRS.  GARFIELD. 


the  attentions  and  considerate  conduct  of  the  Secretary  of 
State  towards  the  wife  and  children  of  his  chief.  It  thus 
happened  that  from  one  end  of  the  land  to  the  other,  where- 
ever  the  news  was  read,  the  praise  of  Elaine  was  mingled 


ELAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  275 

with  the  sorrow  of  the  people  for  the  fallen  President  and 
his  household.  Each  day  the  Secretary  was  wont  to  visit 
Mrs.  Garfield  in  person,  and  to  read  to  her,  as  a  brother  to 
his  sister  in  sorrow,  the  words  of  condolence  and  sympathy 
which  came  to  her  from  every  quarter  of  the  civilized 
world. 

Mr.  Elaine  remained  in  the  Cabinet  several  months  after 
President  Arthur's  inauguration.  Some  disagreement  upon 
details  of  state-craft  was  reported ;  some  want  of  accord  upon 
the  foreign  relations  of  the  government;  some  anticipated 
demand  in  the  contemplation  of  Mr.  Elaine,  it  was  said, 
upon  Great  Britain,  for  a  modification  of  the  Clayton-Bulwer 
treaty ;  his  opposition  to  the  course  of  Chili  in  her  victorious 
struggle  with  Peru;  his  project  of  a  Congress  of  all  the 
American  republics  to  settle  international  disputes — these, 
in  part  or  in  whole,  we  were  told,  were  at  the  bottom  of 
Mr.  Elaine's  retirement  from  the  Cabinet,  because  his  views 
and  those  of  the  President  were  irreconcilable.  Perhaps  the 
reasons  were  wholly  different  from  any  thing  that  has  yet 
reached  the  public  ear,  but  that  whatever  they  were,  they 
were  thought  sufficient  by  the  parties  concerned,  is  un- 
doubted. 


276  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOG  AN. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

ELAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE— Continued. 

' '  With  grave 

Aspect  he  rose,  and  in  his  rising  seemed 
A  pillar  of  state ;  deep  on  his  front  engraven, 
Deliberation  sat,  and  public  care ; 
And  princely  counsel  in  his  face  yet  shone 
Majestic."  MILTON. 

IN  THE  GREAT  WORLD. 

AT  Brownsville,  Pennsylvania,  on  the  Monongahela  River, 
a  good  many  reminiscences  of  Elaine's  boyhood  and 
early  youth  are  now  revived,  and  they  go  pretty  well  to 
prove,  if  such  proof  were  needed,  that  the  child  is  indeed 
father  to  the  man.  Instances  of  his  industry,  honesty, 
versatility,  and  activity  of  both  body  and  mind  are  recalled 
and  related,  with  many  shrewd  comments  and  cheerful  pre- 
dictions of  great  renown. 

"He  was  a  master  boy,"  says  one  old  lady  of  Browns- 
ville, "  to  lead  off.  He  would  get  together  a  lot  of  young- 
sters and  propose  a  frolic  in  the  hills,  a  game  of  ball,  or  a 
fishing  jaunt,  and  all  agreed  to  his  suggestion  and  joined  in 
whatever  he  proposed.  It  was  enough  to  insure  the  sport 
of  the  boys  that  Jimmy  Blaine  had  charge  of  the  game  or  the 
frolic,  for  it  was  understood  he  would  not  fail  to  do  his  part 
for  the  general  entertainment.  He  protected  the  younger 


ELAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  277 

boys  against  the  older,  but  taught  them  all  to  rely  upon 
themselves  as  much  as  possible.  He  was  cheerful,  generous, 
and  truthful,  and  always  ready  to  do  a  good  turn  for  friend 
or  neighbor.  He  came  to  our  house  to  borrow  a  net  one 
morning,  and  father — that's  what  I  called  my  husband — 
didn't  want  to  let  it  go.  'I'll  bring  it  back  to-morrow,' 
said  Jimmy.  '  It  is  n't  bringing  it  back  that  I  'm  talking 
about,  but  letting  it  go,'  said  father.  Jimmy  thought  a  min- 
ute ;  then  he  replied,  '  You  'd  better  lend  it  to  me  than  to 
somebody  that'll  never  bring  it  back.'  Father  laughed,  and 
then  I  knew  he  would  give  in.  Jimmy  got  the  net,  and,  of 
course,  returned  it  according  to  agreement. 

"  Once  I  got  him  to  stand  still  long  enough  to  answer  a 
few  questions.  He  was  so  full  of  life  and  fun  that  it  was 
hard  work  to  keep  him  quiet  for  any  length  of  time.  I 
asked  him  some  questions  in  history,  geography,  and  the 
catechism,  and  he  answered  all  correctly — that  is,  if  I  knew 
the  correct  answers — and  then  I  asked  him  what  he  expected 
to  follow  when  he  grew  up.  ' Maybe  I'll  be  a  preacher  or 
a  steamboat  captain,'  he  replied,  'but  I'd  rather  be  a  mem- 
ber of  Congress.'  He  hadn't  forgotten  this  reply  when  he 
was  here  a  few  years  ago,  and  acknowledged  that  he  had 
had  his  preference." 

Another  aged  dame  remembered  him  as  the  most  chari- 
table boy  she  ever  knew.  "  Why,  he  would  give  away  his 
dinner  rather  than  have  any  one  else  go  hungry.  He  gave 
his  pennies  and  his  fruit  and  his  candy  to  the  children  of 
poor  parents,  and  did  this  so  often  that  it  was  talked  about 
in  the  town.  He  played  jokes  upon  some  of  his  mates,  but 
only  upon  his  equals  in  strength  and  opportunity.  He 


278  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

seemed  to  despise  every  thing  in  the  way  of  a  mean  advan- 
tage. I  can't  remember  the  particulars  of  any  of  these 
jokes,  but  some  of  them  were  very  cute." 

We  had  better  luck  with  a  bright-eyed  old  gentleman  of 
clear  memory.  "  When  we  were  boys,"  said  he,  "  down  on 
Indian  Hill  farm,  Jim  Elaine  was  a  lively  chap.  He  kept 
the  whole  township  in  arms.  Once  I  got  even  with  him.  I 
was  down  in  the  meadow  pitching  hay.  He  knew  that  I 
was  going  to  do  that  job,  and  he  went  down  there  a  day  or 
two  before  and  fixed  one  of  the  haycocks  so  it  could  not  be 
lifted.  He  ran  a  long  wire  through  it  in  such  a  way  as  to 
hold  it  together,  and  then  fastened  it  under  the  middle  of 
the  stack  to  a  post  which  he  had  driven  in  the  ground. 
Some  of  the  other  boys  knew  about  the  game,  and  they 
stood  around  looking  kind  of  sneaking  and  smiling  a  little.  I 
tackled  the  doctored  stack  early  in  the  day.  I  drove  my  fork 
into  the  top,  and,  spitting  on  my  hands,  bore  down  upon  it. 
It  didn't  budge.  I  tried  it  once  more,  with  a  little  extra 
strength,  and  broke  the  fork  clean  off  at  the  handle.  A 
boy  sitting  on  a  rail  fence  snickered,  and  I  knew  something 
was  up.  A  moment's  examination  convinced  me  that  the 
stack  was  tied  down,  and  just  then  the  boy  who  had  laughed 
pointed  in  the  direction  of  another  stack  not  far  away.  I 
felt  in  my  bones  that  Jim  Elaine  was  hiding  there.  So  I 
crawled  up  kind  of  easy,  and  finding  him  watching  the  per- 
formance on  his  hands  and  knees,  with  some  of  the  grass 
thrown  over  him,  I  got  behind  him  and  raised  him  one  with 
my  boot.  I  was  mad,  and  I  put  a  good  deal  of  heft  into 
that  kick,  for  he  shot  out  of  the  stack  head  first,  as  if  he 
had  been  fired  from  a  cannon.  It  humped  him  for  a  while,  I 


ELAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  279 

tell  you,  and  there  was  a  lively  scattering  among  the  rest 
of  the  boys. 

"He  was  always  great  in  learning  some  good  piece  for 
speaking  in  school.  It  was  nothing  for  him  to  get  it  by 
heart,  as  the  boys  called  it.  He  generally  told  the  boys 
what  he  was  going  to  speak,  so  that  none  of  them  would  get 
the  same  ;  but  once  a  fellow,  whose  name  was  Ames  or  Amos, 
pitched  upon  the  same  piece  Jim  had,  just  for  a  joke,  and 
as  his  ,name  was  called  first,  he  took  all  the  wind  out  of 
Jim's  sails  by  pretty  good  speaking.  Jim  did  n't  appear  to 
mind  it  much,  but  the  teacher  remarked  that  they  had  bet- 
ter have  an  understanding  in  future,  and  avoid  repetition. 
The  time  came  pretty  soon  when  they  had  a  school  exhibi- 
tion, and  each  one  who  took  part  had  to  write  his  own 
piece.  Elaine  was  given  his  choice  between  the  first  and 
last  speeches,  and  he  chose  the  first.  It  was  grand.  I 
do  n't  think  he  has  made  a  better  one  since.  When  Ames's 
name  was  called  he  was  n't  there,  although  a  few  minutes 
before  he  was  seen  in  his  seat.  'Gone  home,  sick,'  said 
one  of  the  boys.  It  finally  leaked  out  that  Ames  lacked 
either  the  ability  or  the  disposition  to  write  a  piece  for  him- 
self and  had  gone  to  Elaine  for  help,  and  that  Jim,  not 
caring  to  keep  all  the  good  things,  and  remembering  Ames's 
favor  on  a  former  occasion,  had  copied  and  given  him  most 
of  his  own  speech,  and  had  only  followed  Ames's  example 
in  using  it  first.  Ames  left  the  school  and  this  part  of  the 
country  shortly  afterward." 

Men  who  have  been  in  Congress  for  a  long  series  of 
years  are  disposed  to  look  upon  new  members  in  about  the 
same  light  as  that  through  which  senior  collegians  view 


280  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

freshmen.  It  is  not  favorable  to  the  new  members.  Said 
one  of  the  old  stagers  to  Elaine,  upon  his  first  appearance 
as  a  member  of  the  House :  "  Well,  you  are  here  fresh  from 
the  people,  and  probably  with  their  instructions  in  your 
pocket ;  now  what  do  you  propose  to  do  ?"  "  Nothing  that 
my  constituents  will  be  ashamed  of,  or  ever  have  reason  to  re- 
gret" was  the  reply.  That  old  member  is  still  in  Congress, 
and  he  feels  that  he  was  not  only  properly  answered,  but 
that  the  purpose  expressed  in  the  answer  has  been  grandly 
realized. 

These  incidents  are  brought  forward  now  to  illustrate 
the  foundation  of  Mr.  Elaine's  character  and  greatness.  No- 
body in  childhood  and  youth  poses  before  the  community 
for  mere  effect.  Whatever  acts  are  performed  in  tender 
years  must  be  regarded  as  the  spontaneous  outpouring  of 
nature,  prompted  by  the  untaught  and  unsophisticated  heart 
and  brain.  No  parent  expects  his  ten,  or  twelve,  or  fifteen- 
year-old  boy  to  do  any  thing  for  mere  effect,  and  most  cer- 
tainly not  in  a  country  town  where  all  affectation  is  absurd, 
where  every  body  knows  every  body,  and  where  the  least 
pretense  of  moral  or  mental  superiority  would  be  very  jeal- 
ously scanned.  The  boy's  life  supplied  the  true  horoscope 
of  the  future  legislator  and  statesman,  and  the  American 
people  are  disposed  to  put  the  predictions  of  that  young 
life  strongly  to  the  proof  in  a  further  trial. 

From  a  distinguished  correspondent  who  has  known  Mr. 
Elaine  intimately  for  many  years,  we  gather  the  following 
interesting  details  of  his  daily  life  and  habits : 

"  At  first  he  lived  in  Washington  in  a  nomadic  way — in 
hotels  or  boarding-houses,  as  do  most  Congressman — but 


ELAINE  IN  P  UBLIC  LIFE.  281 

when  he  was  elected  Speaker  he  bought  a  house  on  Fifteenth 
Street,  in  the  best  quarter  of  the  town.  Opposite  lived 
Hamilton  Fish,  then  Secretary  of  State ;  next  door  lived 
Fernando  Wood ;  General  Sherman's  house  was  only  a  few 
doors  distant,  and  General  Butler  could  be  found  just  around 
the  corner.  Elaine's  house  was  thought  a  handsome  one  at 
that  time,  but  it  was  only  a  plain  brick  structure  in  a  row, 
and  it  cuts  no  sort  of  a  figure  in  these  days  when  big  man- 
sions in  the  Queen  Anne,  Elizabethan,  Norman,  and  I  know 
not  how  many  other  styles  abound  at  the  capital.  There 
were  two  big  parlors  on  the  first  floor,  and  back  of  them  a 
sitting-room  and  dining-room,  and  all  four  rooms  connected 
by  folding  doors,  so  that  the  crowds  that  used  to  surge  in 
at  the  Speaker's  official  receptions  were  measurably  well  ac- 
commodated. In  the  belongings  of  this,  his  first  Washing- 
ton home,  Elaine  showed  a  fondness  for  engravings,  for  sub- 
stantial furniture,  and  for  books.  He  was  much  given  to 
hospitality,  and  never  appeared  so  happy  as  when  entertain- 
ing a  congenial  dinner  party  at  his  big  round  table.  For 
his  dinner-table  talks  he  had  an  inexhaustible  fund  of  anec- 
dotes and  witticisms.  I  never  heard  him  tell  the  same  story 
twice.  He  did  not  resemble  in  the  least  the  hand-organ 
type  of  man  who  has  only  one  little  set  of  tunes.  Indeed, 
I  think  he  might  dispute  with  Henry  Ward  Beecher  for  the 
honor  of  being  the  most  original  man  in  America.  No  mat- 
ter what  the  topic  may  be,  he  is  sure  to  contribute  to  the 
conversation  something  particularly  bright  and  entertaining. 
"When  not  entertaining  friends  at  his  own  house  he 
usually  dined  out.  I  remember  to  have  warned  him  once  of 
the  perils  of  the  diner-out — how  an  eminent  man  had  come 


282  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOG  AN. 

to  an  untimely  end  by  eating  big  dinners.  He  said  he  ob- 
served a  strict  rule  at  dinner  parties — he  took  soup  and  roast 
beef,  but  no  prepared  dishes.  No  dessert,  except  a  little  ice- 
cream, and  no  wine  save  dry  champagne.  By  sticking  closely 
to  this  dietary  programme,  he  could  dine  out  every  day  in  the 
week  without  injuring  his  digestion.  In  those  days  Elaine  was 
not  a  great  letter-writter,  either  with  his  own  hand  or  vicar- 
iously through  that  of  his  secretary.  He  did  not,  like  Gar- 
field,  reply  to  all  the  letters  he  received.  He  was  a  great 
newspaper-reader,  and  always  knew  the  attitude  of  every 
really  important  journal  in  the  country  on  the  dominant 
issues  of  the  day.  He  knew  the  history  of  these  journals, 
too,  and  something  of  the  men  who  made  them,  and  if  there 
was  any  power  behind  the  chairs  of  their  editors  he  was 
pretty  sure  to  be  informed  about  it.  He  was  not  accessible 
at  all  times  and  to  all  the  world,  as  many  men  who  cherish 
great  political  ambition  think  it  necessary  to  be.  The  im- 
passable black  guardian  of  the  hall  door  was  never  quite 
sure  that  Mr.  Elaine  was  in,  but  he  would  see.  If  the  visi- 
tor was  not  welcome  he  would  manage  to  make  him  believe 
that  the  Speaker  had  just  gone  out  a  few  minutes  before. 
This  colored  person  had  a  fine  instinct  for  discerning  the 
men  whom  his  master  would  probably  wish  to  receive.  They 
were  shown  into  the  front  parlor;  others  waited  in  the  hall. 
"  In  the  Fifteenth  Street  house  Elaine  lived  while  in 
Washington  until  after  the  death  of  Garfield.  He  had  pre- 
viously begun  to  build  a  huge,  expensive  red-brick  pile  out 
on  the  P  Street  Circle,  deeming  himself  comfortably  rich  at 
the  time,  and  thinking  the  position  of  Secretary  of  State 
carried  with  it  duties  of  enlarged  hospitality.  The  house 


ELAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  283 

was  a  mistake,  as  he  soon  found.  He  lived  in  it  only  about 
a  year.  As  a  private  citizen  it  was  much  too  large  for  his 
needs ;  besides, -a  considerable  share  of  his  fortune  melted 
away  in  the  great  shrinkage  in  stocks,  and  he  did  not  feel 
able  to  support  the  expensive  establishment  which  the  house 
demanded.  He  considered  himself  very  fortunate  to  be  able 
to  lease  it  for  a  sum  which  amounted  to  6  per  cent,  on  its 
cost.  Then  he  condensed  his  household  into  a  dwelling  of 
moderate  capacity,  facing  on  Lafayette  Square.  From  his 
front  window  he  could  see  the  White  House  through  the 
trees  in  the  pretty  park.  Not  many  of  his  own  belongings 
came  with  this  house  save  his  books  and  a  few  pictures.  In 
it  he  did  most  of  the  work  on  his  '  Twenty  Years  of  Con- 
gress,' living  as  retired  as  his  friends  would  let  him,  and 
getting  his  exercise  mainly  from  a  daily  morning  walk  to 
the  Capitol,  whither  he  went  to  consult  the  books  in  the  Con- 
gressional Library. 

"  All  this  time  his  real  home,  if  the  attachments  of  him- 
self and  the  members  of  his  family  were  considered,  was 
the  large,  old-fashioned,  broad-fronted  white  house,  with  its 
green  blinds,  its  maples,  and  its  grassy  yard,  which  stands 
on  a  quiet,  shady  street  near  the  State  Capitol,  in  Augusta, 
Me.  This  house  typifies  the  well-to-do  phase  of  village  life 
in  New  England,  as  it  expressed  itself  in  architecture  before 
the  recent  mania  for  colors,  angles,  balconies,  and  fanciful 
forms  came  in.  It  represents  the  plainness,  solidity,  and 
conservatism  of  the  last  generation.  Mr.  Elaine  has  modi- 
fied it  very  little,  and  not  at  all  at  the  expense  of  its  sober, 
old-time  appearance.  He  has  added  two  or  three  rooms  in 
the  rear — one  large  library,  which  is  his  work-room,  and 


284  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

which  during  the  many  hard  fights  he  waged  with  the  Demo- 
crats when  he  was  chairman  of  the  State  Republican  Com- 
mittee used  to  be  a  rendezvous  for  his  lieutenants  from  all 
parts  of  the  State.  In  the  course  of  two  Maine  campaigns 
I  saw  a  good  deal  of  Mr.  Elaine.  He  was  the  busiest  man 
in  the  State,  hurrying  from  county  to  county  to  address 
mass-meetings,  writing  telegrams  on  the  trains,  getting  a 
pocketful  of  dispatches  at  every  town,  dictating  letters  at 
night  to  his  secretary,  yet  always  cheerful  and  campanion- 
able,  and  with  a  good  joke  or  anecdote  ready  to  enliven 
every  occasion.  He  knew  the  whole  State  as  well  as  his 
own  dooryard,  and  was  acquainted  with  the  leading  men  in 
every  town.  He  brought  the  canvass  down  to  the  school 
districts.  The  hurrah  work  of  processions,  banners,  and  big 
meetings  he  estimated  at  its  proper  value,  but  he  never  de- 
pended on  it  to  produce  results.  The  real  business  of  a 
campaign  was  to  perfect  local  organization,  ascertain  who 
were  the  doubtful  voters,  and  bring  argument  and  personal 
influence  to  hear  upon  them  through  the  efforts  of  their 
Republican  neighbors. 

"  Saturdays  we  special  correspondents  used  to  manage  to 
get  back  to  Augusta  if  we  could,  to  spend  a  quiet  Sunday 
afternoon  with  Elaine  at  his  house.  In  the  evening  some 
musical  friends  of  the  family  would  usually  corne  in,  and  we 
had  a  good  time  singing  old-fashioned  Church  tunes,  for  which 
Elaine  had  a  fondness,  and  in  which  he  would  join  with  his 
children  and  with  all  the  members  of  the  company  who 
could  make  any  show  of  a  voice." 

As  it  respects  politicial  scandals,  it  is  well  known  that, 
in  1870,  a  story  was  started  that  Mr.  Elaine  had  done  some- 


ELAINE  IN  P  UBLIC  LIFE.  285 

thing  wrong  while  Speaker  of  the  House  in  assisting  to 
renew  the  land  grant  of  the  Little  Rock  &  Fort  Smith  Rail- 
road, of  Arkansas.  It  was  a  false  and  malicious  charge,  in- 
stigated by  those  who  were  jealous  of  Mr.  Elaine's  success  and 
rapid  progress  in  the  public  regard.  Nobody  who  knew  him 
believed  it  for  a  moment,  and  those  who  took  the  trouble  to 
investigate,  found  it  to  be  utterly  without  foundation.  In 
proof  of  this  we  append  what  Harpers  Weekly,  of  May  13, 
1876,  had  to  say  about  it.  For  several  reasons,  it  will  be 
found  quite  interesting  just  at  this  juncture : 

"In  speaking  of  the  railroad-bond  scandal  about  Mr. 
Elaine  we  said  that  at  least  it  would  be  admitted  that  he 
had  always  shown  himself  acute  enough  to  escape  the  traps 
into  which  the  honest  but  dull  often  fall.  If  high  principle 
should  be  denied  to  him,  and  if,  as  is  sometimes  asserted, 
he  is  merely  a  politician,  yet  surely  he  is  a  politician  of 
sagacity  enough  to  know  that,  in  public  life,  honesty,  if 
nothing  more,  is  certainly  good  policy.  The  substance  of 
the  charge  against  Mr.  Elaine  was  that  when  he  was  the 
Speaker  of  the  House,  and  when  Mr.  Thomas  Scott  was 
president  of  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad  Company,  he  caused 
the  company  to  buy  bonds  to  the  amount  of  $75,000,  which 
were  almost  worthless,  for  $64,000,  and  the  insinuation  was 
that  this  was  a  bribe  to  secure  the  favor  of  Mr.  Elaine  for 
Mr.  Scott's  railway  projects  before  Congress.  Plainly  stated, 
this  was  the  charge.  Of  course,  if  believed,  it  was  fatal  to 
Mr.  Elaine  ;  and  at  this  time,  when  the  public  mind  is  very 
suspicious,  the  mere  accusation  was  not  unlikely  to  be  of 
great  injury  to  him.  The  story  had  been  privately  whis- 
pered, and  there  had  been  a  conference  of  Republican  editors 


286  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

at  Cincinnati,  which  ended  by  acquainting  him  with  the 
rumor.  Suddenly  it  was  made  public  in  a  Democratic  paper 
at  Indianapolis,  and  in  other  journals  in  other  parts  of  the 
country.  Then,  of  course,  it  was  echoed  and  re-echoed 
through  the  whole  press.  Mr.  Blaine  instantly  published  an 
absolute  and  complete  denial,  and  having  collected  evidence 
that  is  apparently  conclusive,  he  made  a  brief,  clear,  simple 
statement  in  the  House,  which  was  as  thorough  a  refutation 
as  was  ever  made,  and  in  the  absence  of  other  evidence,  leaves 
him  unspotted." 

The  Chicago  Tribune,  date  of  June  14,  1884,  under  the 
head  of  "Mr.  Elaine's  Vindication,"  refers  to  the  old  false- 
hood, and  thus  disposes  of  it : 

"  The  charge  is : 

"  That  in  the  spring  of  1869 — Mr.  Blaine  being  at  that 
time  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives — a  bill  re- 
newing the  land  grant  of  the  Little  Rock  and  Fort  Smith 
Railroad  in  the  State  of  Arkansas  was  before  the  House, 
and  that  in  his  capacity  of  Speaker  he  promoted  its  pass- 
age because  he  had  a  pecuniary  interest  in  the  road. 

"  The  truth  is  : 

"1.  That  Mr.  Blaine  at  the  time  of  the  passage  of  the 
bill  had  no  pecuniary  interest  whatsoever  in  the  railroad  or 
its  land  grant,  and  expected  to  have  none. 

"  2.  That  he  had  no  acquaintance  with  any  persons  who 
did  have  any  pecuniary  interest  in  the  railroad  or  its 
land  grant. 

"  3.  That  he  did  not  <  promote  '  the  passage  of  the  bill, 
and  that  it  did  not  need  his  influence,  inasmuch  as  it  had 
already  passed  the  Senate  by  a  unanimous  vote,  and  was 


ELAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  287 

not  objected  to  by  any  body  in  the  House.  In  fact,  it 
passed  the  House  by  a  unanimous  vote,  as  soon  as  it  was 
before  that  body,  on  its  merits. 

"4.  That  Mr.  Elaine's  sole  connection  with  the  bill  was 
to  rule  out  an  amendment  tacking  to  it  the  very  odious  and 
objectionable  land-grant  of  the  Texas  and  Pacific  Railroad, 
a  measure  which  ought  not  to  pass,  and  which,  if  it  had 
been  fastened  on  the  Little  Rock  and  Fort  Smith  Railroad 
measure,  would  probably  have  dragged  it  down  to  an  un- 
merited defeat.  When  this  highly  offensive  amendment  was 
proposed,  Mr.  Root,  one  of  the  Arkansas  members,  called  the 
Speaker's  attention  thereto,  and  at  Mr.  Elaine's  suggestion 
Mr.  John  A.  Logan,  then  a  member  of  the  House,  raised  the 
point  of  order  that  the  amendment  was  not  germane,  and  it 
was  ruled  out  of  order  forthwith.  The  bill  then  passed  by 
a  unanimous  vote. 

"Nearly  three  months  after  these  events  Mr.  Elaine  for 
the  first  time  obtained  an  interest  in  the  railroad,  pur- 
chasing the  stock  and  bonds  as  any  other  buyer  might  do,  and 
then  for  the  first  time  formed  the  acquaintance  of  those  who 
had  been  instrumental  in  pushing  the  enterprise  in  the  State 
of  Arkansas.  He  bought  a  block  of  securities  belonging  to 
the  Little  Rock  and  Fort  Smith  Railroad,  including  stock 
and  first  and  second  mortgage  bonds,  in  June,  1869,  after 
the  adjournment  of  Congress,  and  placed  the  first  mortgage 
bonds  during  the  three  months  following  with  a  number  of 
his  friends  in  Massachusetts  and  Maine.  The  entire  series 
of  bonds  at  his  disposal  was  closed  out  during  the  months 
of  July,  August,  and  September  of  1869,  so  the  transaction 
was  ended  when,  in  his  letter  of  October  4,  1869,  Mr.  Elaine 


288          LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

wrote  to  Fisher,  and  merely  in  the  way  of  a  curious  remin- 
iscence called  attention  to  the  fact  of  his  unsolicited  and  ac- 
cidental services  to  the  road  the  April  previous,  when  he 
was  in  no  way  interested  in  its  affairs,  and  had  no  reason  to 
suppose  that  he  ever  would  be.  The  truth  is,  that  his 
attention  was  first  directed  to  the  railroad  by  its  application 
to  Congress  for  a  renewal  of  its  land  grant,  and  it  first 
seemed  to  him  a  favorable  investment  after  its  land  grant 
had  been  renewed  by  a  unanimous  vote  of  both  houses  of 
Congress. 

"Mr.  Elaine  sold  his  securities  of  the  road  to  his  friends 
with  a  personal  promise  that  if  any  loss  should  ensue  he 
would  take  back  the  stock  and  bonds  at  the  price  for  which 
he  sold  them.  Shrinkage  did  ensue,  and  the  stock  and 
bonds  were  thrown  back  upon  his  hands,  and,  though  he  had 
given  no  written  guarantee  of  redemption,  he  paid  for  them 
at  a  great  personal  sacrifice  out  of  his  own  pocket.  The 
New  York  Evening  Post  has  since  alleged  that  he  unloaded 
his  disastrous  investment  upon  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad, 
but  it  has  produced  no  proof  of  any  such  transaction, 
whereas  Mr.  Elaine  has  exhibited  the  sworn  statements  of 
the  officers  of  the  railroad  that  no  such  transfer  was  ever 
made ;  and  his  statement  has  been  accepted  as  conclusive  by 
those  who  are  familiar  with  the  circumstances  of  the  case. 
Indeed,  it  was  this  part  of  the  controversy  that  George 
William  Curtis  considered  in  Harpers  Weekly  when  he 
wrote  in  May,  1876,  that  Mr.  Elaine's  statement  was  'as 
thorough  a  refutation  as  was  ever  made.' " 

It  would  seem  strange  indeed  to  find  it  necessary  to  de- 
fend Mr.  Elaine,  were  we  not  able  to  remember  that  the 


ELAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  289 

purest  and  best  men  the  country  ever  possessed  were  to 
some  extent  the  victims  of  vile  calumniation.  It  was  true 
of  Washington,  of  Clay,  of  Lincoln,  of  Grant,  of  Garfield. 
In  the  case  of  each,  the  scandals  were  promptly  disproved, 
but  they  were  repeated  again  and  again,  to  the  utmost  limit 
of  "damnable  iteration,"  even  after  disproval.  There  are 
very  good  people  who  yet  believe  that  Garfield  wrote  the 
Morey  letter,  although  it  was  proved  a  black  forgery. 
None  who  were  acquainted  with  the  man,  whether  they 
were  his  political  friends  or  not,  believed  it  for  a  moment 
after  his  disclaimer.  "  I  wonder  if  Garfield  thinks  deny- 
ing that  letter  will  do  him  any  good  ?  "  queried  a  gentleman 
of  Hon.  John  G.  Carlisle,  now  Speaker  of  the  House.  "If 
he  denies  it,  you  may  rely  that  he  did  not  write  it,"  re- 
sponded Carlisle.  "I  have  known  Garfield  intimately  for 
many  years,  and  I  know  he  would  lose  every  thing  he  has 
in  the  world,  and  the  prospect  of  ever  having  any  thing 
again,  before  he  would  be  guilty  of  untruthfulness."  This 
was  the  manly  expression  of  a  great  mind,  who,  although  a 
political  opponent,  is  above  the  ordinary  prejudice  of  party. 
It  was  said  during  the  presidential  campaign  of  1880. 

Mr.  Elaine's  reputation  is  of  the  same  order,  with  those 
who  know  him.  His  integrity  is  above  suspicion  among  his 
associates,  no  matter  what  their  politics  may  be.  Therefore 
he  thought  it  necessary  to  disprove  some  of  the*  lies  that 
have  been  uttered  to  smirch  his  fair  name.  But  they  are  re- 
iterated by  unscrupulous  foes,  who  are  well  aware  that,  al- 
though "  a  lie  has  no  legs,  and  can  not  stand,  it  has  wings, 
and  can  fly  far  and  wide."  Nobody  pretends  that  he  is  per- 
fect, for  that  is  not  in  humanity ;  but  that  he  is  a  great, 

19 


290  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

generous,  whole-souled,  honest  man,  full  of  vim  and  intelli- 
gence, is  enough  for  a  personal  platform ;  and  the  man  is 
lucky  who  can  stand  upon  such  a  platform  deservedly. 
Jealousy  will  attack  him,  as  it  has  the  great  hearts  who 
have  lived  before  and  worn  themselves  out  in  the  service  of 
the  people.  But  truth  crushed  to  earth  rises  very  rapidly 
upon  our  free  soil.  Mr.  Elaine  has  shown  too  much  inde- 
pendence to  suit  the  truckling  politicians  of  the  day,  and  for 
this  they  seek  to  wound  him.  He  spoke  and  voted  against 
the  Electoral  Commission  bill,  as  did  Morton,  and  there 
are  some  mousing  partisans  who  seek  to  knife  him,  politi- 
cally, for  this  alone.  Some  wonderful  statesmen  have  con- 
ceived the  idea  that  nothing  should  be  done  but  at  the  behest 
of  the  party,  and  every  thing  else  is  treason.  Mr.  Elaine 
has  never  hesitated  to  declare  his  independence  of  party 
whenever  it  claimed  his  allegiance  in  a  course  he  could  not 
approve ;  and  this  should  certainly  testify  to  his  political 
honesty,  if  nothing  further.  In  all  this  he  is  a  thorough 
Republican,  however,  for  if  Republicanism  is  not  political 
freedom,  what  in  the  world  is  it  ?  We  have  read  of  his 
Republican  views  in  Congress  and  perused  his  speeches  there ; 
now,  let  us  see  how  the  views  he  expressed  outside,  in  the 
great  world,  agree  with  his  Congressional  platform.  For  this 
purpose  we  make  an  extract  from  his  speech  on  the  currency, 
at  Biddeford,  Maine,  August  21,  1878 : 

"  By  common  consent,  the  currency  question  is  the  great 
question  before  the  people.  This  I  regret ;  because,  if  there 
is  one  thing  people  can  not  afford,  it  is  a  political  currency 
question.  Let  us  settle  it,  and  settle  it  right.  Let  us  re- 
view the  circumstances  that  brought  us  where  we  are  now. 


ELAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  291 

In  1861  an  extra  session  of  Congress  was  called,  and  it  au- 
thorized the  treasurer  to  borrow  $400,000,000,  as  there  was 
no  money  in  the  treasury.  Fifty  millions  of  demand  notes 
were  also  authorized,  and  when  Congress  assembled  after  the 
Christmas  holidays  they  assembled  with  an  empty  treasury. 
In  this  particular  strait,  the  government  provided  for  an  is- 
suance of  $150,000,000  of  legal-tender  notes.  That  was  a 
measure  of  absolute  necessity.  It  was  useless  to  stand  upon 
a  very  fine-drawn  point  at  such  a  time.  It  was  a  question 
of  life.  We  declared  the  notes  legal  tender.  Before  another 
year  had  expired  we  were  called  upon  to  issue  another 
$150,000,000,  and  when  Congress  assembled  in  December, 
1863,  the  report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  brought 
before  us  a  very  embarrassing  condition.  The  government 
was  without  currency  again.  We  were  at  that  time  appeal- 
ing to  every  civilized  nation  of  the  world  for  money.  Forty 
or  fifty  million  dollars  were  due  the  army,  and  ready  cash 
was  demanded.  Out  of  this  state  of  affairs  came  the  Loan 
Act,  which  really  supplied  funds  which  were  necessary  for 
the  salvation  of  the  Nation.  The  'Loan  Act  had  not  only 
authority  of  law,  but  in  a  peculiar  and  strong  sense  it  is 
binding  upon  us.  In  this  act  was  a  proviso  as  follows : 
1  That  the  total  amount  of  those  notes  issued,  and  to  be  is- 
sued, shall  never  exceed  $400,000,000.'  It  was  the  limit 
which,  in  extreme  urgency,  we  pledged  ourselves  to,  and  if 
there  is  any  honor  in  the  American  people  they  would  as 
soon  sign  away  their  birthright  as  violate  this  pledge.  The 
most  fearful  thing  that  could  happen  to  this  country  would 
be  the  issuance  of  an  unlimited  amount  of  currency.  How 
are  you  going  to  contract  the  currency? 


292  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

"Whatever  else  the  American  people  do  with  currency, 
let  me  say  to  you  that  there  is  no  body  of  men  so  little 
competent  to  determine  the  question  of  money  as  Congress- 
men. I  voted  in  Congress  for  the  Greenback  bill.  I  voted 
that  greenbacks  should  not  be  contracted. 

"  Greenback  people  say  that  we  should  not  have  any 
banks.  For  seven  hundred  years  we  have  had  banks,  and 
we  could  not  conduct  the  business  of  the  country  for  a  min- 
ute without  banks.  Why  are  banks  a  necessity?  A  bank  is 
a  place  where  the  borrower  of  money  meets  the  lender ;  where 
surplus  money  is  deposited.  Suppose  a  man  wants  to  bor- 
row $10,000  to  go  into  business.  Greenbackers  would  send 
him  all  over  the  country,  borrowing  $50  here  and  $50  there. 
There  are  at  the  present  time  three  bills  in  Congress  for 
'resurrecting'  the  State  banks.  New  England  enjoyed,  un- 
der the  old  system,  the  best  banks  in  the  country ;  but  they 
owed  their  reputation  to  the  personal  integrity  of  the  men 
who  stood  behind  the  counter."  The  speaker  aptly  illustrated 
the  weakness  of  the  system  by  referring  to  the  Lumberman's 
Bank,  which  might  be  said  to  have  been  owned  by  the  pres- 
ent Greenback  candidate  for  governor.  This  bank  had  a 
capital  of  $50,000,  but  at  one  time  had  on  hand  unsigned 
bills  to  the  amount  of  $165,000,  which  would  be  signed  as 
fast  as  any  body  wanted  them.  "  In  fact,  the  old  system  of 
banking  was  based  upon  the  personal  notes  of  the  stockhold- 
ers. If  you  will  have  banks,  then  what  kind  will  you  have : 
responsible  or  irresponsible  ?  National  banks  are  perfectly 
free  for  every  man  to  engage  in,  with  just  one  little  condi- 
tion that  the  government  insists  upon — that  you  shall  not 
issue  any  bills  until  you  have  put  into  the  United  States 


ELAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  293 

treasury  an  amount  equal  to  ten  per  cent  additional  to  pro- 
tect the  bill-holders. 

"  If  you  hold  a  national  bank  bill,  you  do  n't  care  whether 
the  bank  is  burst  or  not.  In  regard  to  taxing  bonds,  Green- 
backers  say  'here  is  an  exempted  class.'  The  only  man  in 
the  United  States  who  pays  absolutely  full  tax  on  his  prop- 
erty is  the  holder  of  government  bonds ;  for  instance  :  A 
invests  $10,000  in  government  4  per  cents. ;  B  invests 
an  equal  amount  in  Maine  State  6s;  and  C  invests  a  like 
amount  in  Maine  Central  7  per  cents.  In  the  first  case  the 
investor  in  government  bonds  pays  his  taxes  in  advance,  but 
in  the  case  of  the  other  bonds,  is  it  within  your  experience 
that  holders  thereof  flock  to  the  assessor's  office  asking  to 
be  taxed  ?  Facts  show  that  but  a  very  small  portion  of  the 
bonds  are  taxed.  It  is  the  easiest  thing  in  the  world  for 
your  brother  in  California  to  own  them,  or  your  uncle  in  some 
other  part  of  the  country.  Then  why  delude  yourselves 
with  the  idea  that  if  you  tax  governnent  bonds  they  would 
be  any  more  likely  to  turn  up  for  taxation  than  these  State  or 
railroad  bonds.  If  you  succeed  in  taxing  bonds  you  merely 
place  upon  your  shoulders  an  additional  burden  of  $40,000,- 
000.  Government  bonds  never  could  nor  never  should  be 
taxed.  There  are  five  kinds  of  money  that  the  United 
States  stands  sponsor  for :  gold  and  silver — and  gold  is  better 
than  silver.  Moses,  in  the  second  chapter  of  Genesis,  tells 
us  'that  gold  is  good;"  and  it  makes  no  difference  whether 
it  is  stamped  by  the  United  States  or  Venezuela.  Then  there 
is  the  old-fashioned,  war-honored,  patriotic  greenback,  that 
did  such  great  work,  that  says  the  United  States  will  pay 

),  or  as  it  may  be,  reserving   to  the  United  States  when 


294  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOO  AN. 

they  would  pay.  In  1875  it  did  say  when  they  would  pay, 
viz :  January  1, 1879.  The  advance  school  of  Greenbackers, 
represented  by  General  Butler,  do  n't  want  this  kind  of  green- 
back at  all.  They  want  another  kind.  They  don't  want 
anything  stamped  with  '  promise  to  pay.'  They  want  this 
greenback  to  say,  '  this  is  $10,'  or  any  sum.  Such  talk  is 
merely  nonsense.  Why  not  say,  'this  is  a  horse?'  Why  not 
make  it  $1,000?  It  takes  no  more  paper  or  time  to  print  it, 
but  it  is  not  so  with  gold.  The  next  government  money 
is  National  bank  bills,  and  lastly  the  silver  certificates. 

"  We  fancied  during  the  greenback  craze  that  we  were 
all  getting  rich.  In  1873  we  found  out  we  had  been  buying 
$800,000,000  more  than  we  were  selling.  There  is  nothing 
so  mysterious  about  national  finances.  The  same  principles 
are  involved  in  private  finances.  If  a  farmer  is  buying  more 
than  he  is  selling  from  his  farm,  he  is  growing  poorer,  but 
if  he-  is  selling  more  than  he  is  buying,  he  is  getting  richer. 
This  idea  holds  good  with  the  trade  of  the  country.  Now 
things  are  changed.  We  are  buying  less  abroad  and  have  a 
balance  in  our  favor  of  $630,000,000.  No  people  in  the 
world  are  so  able  to  maintain  a  specie  basis  as  the  United 
States,  if  they  say  they  will.  We  are  just  in  the  sight  of  the 
day  of  redemptiom.  We  can  look  right  into  the  promised  land; 
but  Greenbackers  say,  '  Do  n't  go  in.  Come,  now,  and  wan- 
der with  us  for  years  more.'  You  depreciate  your  currency, 
and  you  might  as  well  by  one  shock  of  mighty  power  paralyze 
capital  from  one  end  of  the  country  to  the  other.  You  reduce 
the  country  from  that  of  a  great  commercial  people  to  a 
beggarly  small  retail  affair.  The  things  which  this  day  frighten 
men  are  wild  schemes  of  finance.  What  the  United  States 


ELAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  295 

needs  in  this  matter  is  a  large  amount  of  l  let-alone-ative- 
ness.'  You  can  not  keep  this  currency  as  a  political  foot-ball. 
You  can  not  settle  this  question  until  you  settle  it  right." 

Some  time  in  the  fall  of  1879  he  delivered  a  speech  at 
Cooper  Institute,  New  York  City,  which  has  heen  more 
widely  discussed,  probably,  than  any  other  of  his  public 
efforts.  We  can  not  give  the  address,  but  the  country  was 
thrilled  with  the  echo. 

The  official  notification  to  Mr.  Elaine  of  the  action  of 
the  Chicago  Convention  was  quietly  performed  at  his  home 
in  Augusta,  Maine,  on  Saturday,  June  21,  1884.  The  com- 
mittee was  one  of  the  largest  that  ever  waited  upon  the 
nominee  of  a  National  Convention,  and  considering  the  dis- 
tance some  of  the  members  had  come,  was  quite  a  remarkable 
gathering. 

The  reading  of  the  letter  of  notification  took  place  on 
the  lawn  in  the  front  of  Mr.  Elaine's  residence,  and  was  a 
scene  long  to  be  remembered  by  those  in  attendance.  Be- 
neath a  stately  butternut-tree,  and  in  front  of  some  low 
clumps  of  cedars  and  hemlocks,  at  the  east  of  the  house,  and 
near  Capitol  Street,  the  committee  took  a  position  in  the 
form  of  a  semi-circle.  In  front  was  Mr.  Elaine  with  folded 
arms.  Just  to  the  rear  were  stationed  Mr.  Walker  Elaine, 
and  J.  G.  Elaine.  Jr.  On  the  right  of  Mr.  Elaine  and  a  few 
feet  distant  was  Chairman  Henderson.  Standing  by  the 
fence  which  separates  the  lawn  and  Capitol  Street  was  a 
bevy  of  ladies,  among  whom  were  Mrs.  Elaine  and  Mrs. 
Elkins.  Mr.  Elkins  and  several  Augusta  gentlemen  were 
near  at  hand. 

Chairman  Henderson  read  the  letter  in  a  clear,  powerful 


296          LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOG  AN. 

tone  of  voice  which  was  distinctly  audible  to  all.  After 
Mr.  Elaine  had  finished  reading  his  response,  Chairman  Hen- 
derson took  a  step  forward  and  said :  "  To  one  and  all  of 
you  I  introduce  the  next  President  of  the  United  States." 
This  was  greeted  with  cheers,  Mr.  Elaine  responding  with  a 
bow.  Hardly  had  the  applause  subsided  when  General 
Henderson  moved  to  the  side  of  Mrs.  Elaine,  who  was  stand- 
ing near,  exclaiming  at  the  same  time  :  "  With  equal  pleas- 
ure I  take  the  liberty  to  introduce  the  coming  lady  of  the 
White  House."  Three  cheers  for  Mrs.  Elaine  were  given 
with  much  power. 

Mr.  Elaine  listened  to  General  Henderson's  address  with 
his  arms  folded  on  his  chest,  and  his  eyes  usually  cast  down 
but  at  times  wandering  about  and  scanning  the  faces  of  the 
audience.  When  General  Henderson  had  concluded  speak- 
ing, Mr.  Walker  Elaine,  the  candidate's  son,  stepped  for- 
ward and  handed  his  father  the  manuscript  of  the  address 
in  reply  to  that  of  the  committee.  Mr.  Elaine  then  read 
as  follows : 

"  Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen  of  the  National  Committee : 
I  receive,  not  without  deep  sensibility,  your  official  notice 
of  the  action  of  the  National  Convention  already  brought 
to  my  knowledge  through  the  public  press.  I  appreciate, 
more  profoundly  than  I  can  express,  the  honor  which  is  im- 
plied in  the  nomination  for  the  Presidency  by  the  Republi- 
can party  of  the  Nation,  speaking  through  the  authoritative 
voice  of  its  duly  accredited  delegates.  To  be  selected  as  a 
candidate  by  such  an  assemblage  from  the  list  of  eminent 
statesmen  whose  names  were  presented,  fills  me  with  embar- 
rassment. I  can  only  express  my  gratitude  for  so  signal  an 


ELAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  297 

honor  and  my  desire  to  prove  the  worth  of  the  great  trust 
reposed  in  me. 

"  In  accepting  the  nomination,  as  I  now  do,  I  am  im- 
pressed and  I  am  also  oppressed  with  a  sense  of  the  labor 
and  responsibility  which  attaches  to  my  position.  The  bur- 
den is  lightened,  however,  by  the  host  of  earnest  men  who 
support  my  candidacy,  many  of  whom  add,  as  does  your 
honorable  committee,  the  cheer  of  personal  friendship  to  the 
pledge  of  political  fealty.  A  more  formal  acceptance  will 
naturally  be  expected,  and  will,  in  due  season,  be  communi- 
cated. It  may,  however,  not  be  inappropriate  at  this  time 
to  say  that  I  have  already  made  a  careful  study  of  the 
principles  announced  by  the  National  Convention,  and  in 
whole  and  in  detail  they  have  my  heartiest  sympathy  and 
meet  my  unqualified  approval. 

"  Apart  from  your  official  errand,  gentlemen,  I  am  ex- 
tremely happy  to  welcome  you  all  to  my  house.  With  many 
of  you  I  have  already  shared  the  duties  of  public  service, 
and  have  enjoyed  most  cordial  friendship.  I  trust  your 
journey  from  all  parts  of  the  great  Republic  has  been  agree- 
able, and  during  your  stay  in  Maine  you  will  feel  that  you 
are  not  among  strangers,  but  among  friends.  Invoking  the 
blessing  of  God  upon  the  great  cause  which  we  jointly  rep- 
resent, let  us  turn  to  the  future  without  fear  and  with 
manly  hearts." 

Mr.  Elaine's  reply  is  a  model  of  dignity  and  manliness. 
It  reflects  throughout  his  appreciation  of  the  importance  of 
his  position,  the  labors  and  responsibilities  which  attach  to 
it,  the  burden  of  its  duties,  and  the  high  honor  of  the  prize 
for  which  he  is  contending. 


298  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

Now  let  us  turn  for  a  moment  to  Washington  City,  the 
head-quarters  for  political  information,  and  learn  what  the 
great  party  leaders,  some  of  whom  were  candidates  for  the 
presidential  nomination  at  Chicago,  have  to  say  of  the  Re- 
publican standard-bearer.  On  the  evening  of  June  19th  an 
immense  Elaine  and  Logan  ratification  meeting  was  held  in 
front  of  the  City  Hall,  and  during  its  continuance  was  ad- 
dressed by  a  large  number  of  prominent  speakers,  among 
whom  were  Senators  John  Sherman,  Hawley,  Harrison,  and 
Mahone,  and  William  Walter  Phelps. 

More  than  fifty  thousand — perhaps  more  than  one  hun- 
dred thousand — Elaine  speeches  were  made  at  ratification 
meetings  within  thirty  days  after  his  nomination.  All 
breathe  the  same  sentiment  of  unbounded  confidence  in  the 
chosen  standard-bearer  of  the  Republican  forces — the  same 
high  trust  that  four  years  ago  was  testified  for  him  by  the 
State  of  Maine,  when  Hon.  William  P.  Frye  made  the  fol- 
lowing little  speech  in  the  National  Republican  Convention 
of  1880.  It  has  lost  none  of  its  interest  since  the  date  of 
delivery : 

"I  saw  once  a  storm  at  sea  in  the  night-time,  and  our 
staunch  old  ship  battling  for  its  life  with  the  fury  of  the 
tempest 5  darkness  everywhere;  the  wind  shrieking  and 
howling  through  the  rigging;  the  huge  waves  beating  upon 
the  sides  of  that  ship,  and  making  her  shiver  from  stem  to 
stern.  The  lightnings  were  flashing;  the  thunders  were 
rolling.  There  was  danger  everywhere.  I  saw  at  the  helm 
a  calm,  bold,  courageous,  immovable,  commanding  man.  In 
the  tempest,  calm ;  in  the  commotion,  quiet ;  in  the  dismay, 
hopeful.  I  saw  him  take  that  old  ship  and  bring  her 


ELAINE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE.  299 

into  the  harbor ;  into  still  waters ;  into  safety.  That  man 
was  a  hero. 

"  I  saw  the  -  good  old  ship,  the  State  of  Maine,  within 
the  last  year,  fighting  her  way  through  the  same  darkness, 
through  the  same  perils,  against  the  same  waves,  against 
the  same  dangers.  She  was  freighted  with  all  that  is 
precious  to  the  principles  of  our  Republic — with  the  rights 
of  American  citizenship;  with  all  that  is  guaranteed  to  the 
American  citizen  by  our  Constitution.  The  eyes  of  the 
whole  Nation  were  upon  her;  an  intense  anxiety  filled 
every  American  heart,  lest  the  grand  old  ship,  the  State  of 
Maine,  might  go  down  beneath  the  waves  forever,  carrying 
her  precious  freight  with  her.  But,  sir,  there  was  a  man  at 
the  helm.  Calm,  deliberate,  commanding,  sagacious,  he  made 
even  the  foolish  men  wise.  Courageous,  he  inspired  the 
timid  with  courage  ;  hopeful,  he  gave  heart  to  the  dismayed; 
and  he  brought  that  good  old  ship  proudly  into  the  harbor; 
into  safety;  and  there  she  floats  to-day,  brighter,  purer, 
stronger,  from  her  baptism  of  danger.  That  man,  too,  was 
a  hero,  and  his  name  was  JAMES  G.  ELAINE.  Maine  sends 
greetings  to  this  magnificent  convention.  With  the  memory 
of  her  own  salvation  from  impending  peril  fresh  upon  her, 
she  says  to  you,  representatives  of  fifty  millions  of  Ameri- 
can people,  who  have  met  here  to  counsel  how  the  Repub- 
lic shall  be  saved,  she  says  to  you,  representatives  of  the 
people,  '  Take  a  man,  a  true  man,  a  staunch  man,  for  your 
leader,  who  has  just  saved  her,  and  who  will  bear  you  to 
safety  and  certain  victory.' " 

How  do  the  vilifiers  of  this  great  statesman  like  that 
testimony  from  the  Pine  Tree  State?  How  did  they  enjoy 


300    LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

Mr.  Elaine's  election  to  the  Senate  by  the  Legislature  of  his 
State,  immediately  following  the  publication  of  their  scan- 
dalous traducings  ?  How  can  they  tolerate  a  man  who,  rele- 
gated to  private  life  through  no  fault  of  his  own,  but  through 
the  calamity  of  Garfield's  death,  has  shown  such  fortitude, 
such  determination,  in  subduing  the  hopelessness  that  would 
have  overwhelmed  an  ordinary  man,  that  he  proves  indeed, 

' '  True  courage  is  not  the  brutal  force 
Of  vulgar  heroes,  but  the  firm  resolve 
Of  virtue  and  of  reason  ?" 


GENERAL  JOHN  A.  LOGAN. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

OUTLINE. 

*'  A  valiant  and  brave  soldier  seeks  rather  to  preserve  one  citizen 
than  to  destroy  a  thousand  enemies,  as  Scipio  the  Roman  said ;  there- 
fore, an  upright  soldier  begins  not  a  war  lightly  or  without  urgent  cause. 
True  soldiers  and  captains  make  not  many  words;  but  when  they  speak 
the  deed  is  done."  LUTHER. 

BIOGRAPHIES  of  great  men  are  valuable  mainly  as  the 
development  of  ideas  which  were  the  leading  inspiration 
of  their  subjects.  Whoever  has  transcended  in  thought,  and 
then  in  action,  the  beaten  path  of  ordinary  opinion  and  en- 
deavor, has  become  a  legitimate  object  of  general  inquiry 
and  interest.  Whoever  has  not  thus  transcended  has  no 
claim  upon  our  personal  interest  or  study,  though  nations 
bow  to  his  scepter,  and  monarchs  tremble  at  his  frown.  "  All 
the  days  of  Methuselah  were  nine  hundred  sixty  and  nine 
years,  and  he  died" — such  are  the  comprehensive  and  sig- 
nificant terms  in  which  the  father  of  Sacred  History  wisely 
chronicles  a  life  blameless  indeed,  but  signalized  by  no  ex- 
tension of  the  boundaries  of  human  thought,  no  decided  con- 
tribution to  the  well-being  of  the  race.  Terence  says,  "My 
advice  is  to  consult  the  lives  of  other  men  as  you  would  a 
looking-glass,  and  from  thence  fetch  examples  for  your  own 

imitation." 

301 


302  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

The  people  of  the  United  States  know  a  good  deal  about 
General  John  A.  Logan,  but  they  regard  him  as  a  man 
about  whom  they  can  not  know  too  much.  Many  of  the 
best  points  in  his  life  are  known  to  only  a  few  chosen 
friends,  and  as  they  concern  his  social  and  domestic  relations 
alone,  it  is  scarcely  possible  to  obtain  his  consent  to  their 
publication.  As  a  faithful  and  loving  husband,  a  generous 
neighbor,  and  a  true,  self-sacrificing  friend,  General  Logan's 
reputation  is  beyond  encomium,  and  he  enjoys,  as  he  de- 
serves, one  of  the  happiest  homes  in  all  the  broad  expanse 
of  this  sunny  Republic.  This  sketch  is  intended  to  furnish 
but  the  mere  outline  of  his  career,  touching  none  but  the 
prominent  features  of  his  life,  to  be  followed  in  succeeding 
chapters  with  all  details  of  interest  in  his  public  experience. 

John  A.  Logan  was  born  in  Jackson  County,  Illinois, 
February  9,  1826.  His  father,  Dr.  John  Logan,  emigrated 
to  this  country  from  Ireland  in  1823,  and  selected  Illinois 
as  his  abiding-place.  His  mother,  whose  maiden  name  was 
Elizabeth  Jenkins,  was  a  native  of  Tennessee. 

The  early  life  of  John  A.  Logan  was  spent  in  Jackson 
County,  and  the  rudiments  of  his  education  were  obtained 
from  such  schools  as  were  then  in  existence  there,  supple- 
mented by  occasional  instruction  at  home.  At  the  outbreak 
of  the  Mexican  War,  young  Logan  volunteered,  and  was 
chosen  a  lieutenant  in  a  company  of  the  First  Illinois  Infantry. 
As  a  soldier  he  did  good  service,  and  was  for  some  time 
adjutant  of  his  regiment.  In  the  fall  of  1848,  upon  his  re- 
turn to  his  home,  he  commenced  the  study  of  law  in  the 
office  of  his  uncle,  Alexander  M.  Jenkins,  formerly  lieuten- 
ant-governor of  Illinois. 


THE  SOLDIER  STATESMAN.  303 

In  November,  1849,  he  was  elected  clerk  of  Jackson 
County.  In  1850  he  attended  a  course  of  law  lectures  at 
Louisville,  Ky.,-  receiving  his  diploma  in  1851,  when  he  en- 
tered into  practice  with  his  uncle.  The  following  year  he 
was  elected  prosecuting  attorney  of  the  Third  Judicial  Dis- 
trict, and  in  the  fall  of  the  same  year  he  was  chosen  to 
the  State  Legislature,  to  which  position  he  was  three  times 
re-elected.  In  1856  he  was  a  presidential  elector  on  the 
Democratic  ticket  for  the  Ninth  Congressional  District,  and 
voted  for  James  Buchanan  for  President.  Two  years  later 
he  was  elected  a  member  of  Congress  from  the  same  district, 
receiving  a  large  Democratic  majority,  and  at  the  expiration 
of  his  term  he  was  re-elected.  In  the  campaign  of  1860  he 
gave  his  ardent  support  to  Stephen  A.  Douglas. 

He  was  among  the  first  to  enlist  for  the  war  of  the  Union. 
He  attended  the  called  session  of  Congress  in  July,  1861, 
and  immediately  joined  the  troops  going  to  the  front.  He 
was  in  the  first  battle  of  Bull  Run,  and  among  the  last  to 
leave  the  field.  Returning  to  his  home  September  1st,  he  as- 
sisted in  raising  troops,  and  September  13th  the  Thirty-first 
Regiment  of  Illinois  Infantry  was  organized,  with  Logan 
commissioned  as  colonel. 

The  first  engagement  in  which  he  and  his  command  par- 
ticipated was  the  battle  of  Belmont,  in  November  of  the 
same  year,  when  his  ability  as  a  commander,  and  his  dash 
and  intrepidity,  foreshadowed  the  fact  that  he  was  to  play 
a  conspicuous  part  in  the  operations  of  the  army.  He  par- 
ticipated in  the  movements  at  Fort  Henry,  and  was  present 
at  the  battle  of  Fort  Donelson,  where  he  received  a  severe 
wound,  and  did  not  rejoin  his  command  until  some  weeks 


304  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

afterward,  on  the  evening  of  the  last  day  of  the  battle  of 
Shiloh.  On  March  3,  1862,  he  was  made  brigadier-general, 
and  participated  in  the  siege  of  Corinth,  as  commander  of 
the  First  Brigade  in  General  Judah's  division  of  the  right 
wing  of  the  army,  and  for  his  valiant  services  was  publicly 
thanked  by  General  Sherman  in  his  official  report.  When 
the  attempt  to  take  Vicksburg  began  in  the  fall  of  1862, 
General  Logan  was  in  command  of  the  First  Division  of 
the  right  wing  of  the  Thirteenth  Corps. 

On  the  arrival  of  the  command  at  Memphis,  December 
31,  1862,  the  Seventeenth  Army  Corps  was  organized,  and 
on  January  11,  1863,  General.  Logan  was  assigned  to  the 
Third  Division,  in  which  position  he  remained  until  the  fall 
of  Vicksburg,  when  he  was  assigned  to  the  command  of  the 
Fifteenth  Army  Corps.  In  the  movements  about  Vicks- 
burg from  February,  1863,  until  July  4th,  when  General  Pem- 
berton  surrendered,  General  Logan  with  his  command  was 
actively  engaged,  and  it  was  through  a  number  of  brilliant 
movements  by  him  that  important  advantages  over  the 
enemy  were  gained,  and  the  final  result  hastened.  He  was 
selected  by  General  Grant  for  consultation  during  the  inter- 
views with  General  Pemberton,  looking  to  the  terms  of  the 
surrender ;  and  in  consideration  of  his  admirable  services, 
General  Logan's  command  was  ordered  to  take  the  lead  in 
the  march  into  Vicksburg,  July  4h,  after  which  he  was  given 
the  command  of  that  post,  which  he  retained  until  placed 
in  command  of  the  Fifteenth  Corps,  November  14,  1863. 

During  the  latter  part  of  December  and  January  he 
organized  an  expedition  into  Northern  Alabama,  where  he 
dispersed  the  rebel  conscript  officers,  for  which  he  was 


THE  SOLDIER  STATESMAN.  305 

officially  complimented.  In  the  Atlanta  campaign  General 
Logan's  corps  was  a  part  of  McPherson's  command,  which, 
as  General  Sherman  said,  was  the  snapper  to  the  whip  with 
which  he  proposed  to  punish  the  enemy.  During  the  move- 
ment Logan  was  conspicuously  at  the  front,  and  the  forces 
under  his  immediate  command  bore  an  important  part  in  all 
the  actions  and  maneuvers  that  resulted  finally  in  the  taking 
possession  of  Atlanta  and  the  surrounding  strongholds  of 
the  Confederate  forces.  At  Dallas,  as  at  Resaca,  General 
Logan's  command  was  in  the  front,  and  the  desperation 
with  which  the  men  under  him  fought  showed  their  implicit 
confidence  in  their  commander  to  lead  them  to  victory  even 
under  the  most  perilous  circumstances. 

On  July  22, 1864,  Logan,  as  commander  of  the  Fifteenth 
Army  Corps,  was  ordered  in  pursuit  of  the  enemy  south  of 
Atlanta.  In  the  hard-fought  cattle  that  followed,  General 
M^Pherson  was  killed,  and  General  Logan  succeeded  him 
in  command  of  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee.  The  success 
of  the  battle  was  accorded  to  Logan  by  General  Sherman's 
official  report.  The  battle  of  July  28th,  which  followed,  was 
another  hotly  contested  fight,  in  which  Logan's  command 
was  equally  as  conspicuous  and  successful.  At  Jonesboro, 
August  29th,  he  was  again  in  advance,  and,  seeing  the  neces- 
sity of  prompt  action,  without  waiting  for  orders  he  pushed 
forward  and  saved  the  bridge  across  Flint  River,  went  into 
a  fortified  position  within  a  mile  and  a  half  of  Jonesboro, 
fought  a  sharp  battle,  and  won  a  decided  victory. 

On  January  20,  1865,  the  campaign  of  the  Carolinas  was 
commenced,  the  movements  being  for  the  purpose  of  en- 
countering Johnston's  Army  of  the  Potomac.  This  march 

20 


306  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

was  full  of  peril  and  privations,  in  all  of  which  General 
Logan  was  with  his  men  day  and  night,  wading  swamps  and 
streams,  and  doing  all  that  the  men  of  his  corps  were  called 
on  to  suffer.  The  command  moved  on,  driving  the  enemy 
at  every  point,  passing  through  Columbia,  Goldsboro  and 
Fayetteville,  until  it  reached  Raleigh,  near  which  the  sur- 
render of  Johnston  took  place,  and  the  campaign  was  closed. 

After  the  close  of  the  war,  General  Logan  was  offered 
the  position  'of  minister  to  Mexico,  but  declined.  In  1866 
he  was  elected  to  Congress  from  the  State  at  large  in  Illinois 
by  a  majority  of  55,987,  and  in  the  Fortieth  Congress  was 
one  of  the  managers  of  the  impeachment  of  President  John- 
son. In  the  next,  the  Forty-first  Congress,  Logan  began  to 
make  his  mark.  He  was  then  chairman  of  the  Military 
Committee,  and  was  charged  with  the  duty  of  investigating 
the  sale  of  cadetships  to  the  naval  and  military  academies. 
A  number  of  Southern  carpet-bag  Republicans,  it  was 
thought,  had  swelled  their  exchequer  in  this  wise.  Pursuing 
the  investigation  with  assiduity,  Logan  caught  a  South 
Carolina  carpet-bagger  named  Whittemore,  and  exposed 
him  in  a  speech  in  the  House.  'To  save  expulsion,  Whitte- 
more resigned  and  resumed  his  profession  of  lay  preacher. 

In  1870,  Logan  was  elected  by  the  Illinois  Legislature  to 
the  United  States  Senate  to  succeed  Richard  Yates.  After 
serving  his  term  he  was  defeated  by  the  Independents,  who 
united  upon  Hon.  David  Davis  as  his  successor,  but  he  was 
again  elected  to  succeed  Oglesby  in  1879.  He  has  always 
taken  an  active  part  in  all  the  legislation  of  the  Senate, 
and  has  introduced  many  useful  bills.  His  efforts  for  the 
soldiers  have  been  as  tireless  as  patriotic. 


THE  SOLDIER  STATESMAN.  3Q7 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE  SOLDIER  STATESMAN. 

"Ten  struck  battles 

I  sucked  these  honored  scars  from,  and  all  Roman; 
Four  years  of  bitter  nights  and  heavy  marches, 
When  many  a  frozen  storm  sang  through  my  cuirass, 
And  made  it  doubtful  whether  that  or  I 
Were  the  most  stubborn  metal,  have  I  wrought  through, 
And  all  to  try  these  Romans.     Ten  times  a  night 
I  have  swam  the  rivers,  when  the  stars  of  Rome 
Shot  at  me  as  I  floated,  and  the  billows 
Tumbled  their  watery  ruins  on  my  shoulders, 
Charging  my  battered  sides  with  troops  of  agues ; 
And  still  to  try  these  Romans."  TALFOUKD. 

"ARM A  VIRUMQUE  CANO." 

DECEMBER  20,  1860,  Mr.  Clarke,  of  New  Hampshire, 
offered  a  resolution  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States, 
to  inquire  into  the  condition  of  the  forts  in  Charleston  Harbor. 
Jefferson  Davis,  of  Mississippi,  arose  in  his  place  and 
opposed  the  resolution  in  the  following  extraordinary  lan- 
guage : 

"  I  propose  to  show  that  it  is  improper  we  should  make 
this  inquiry.  We  know  that  it  must  inflame  the  public 
mind  to  agitate  this  question.  Whatever  the  garrison  may 
be,  the  fact  is  that  the  President  has  not  the  power  to  in- 
crease it;  that  he  could  not  send  a  company  there  without 
the  fact  being  known  before  the  company  arrived.  This 


308  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

would  certainly  precipitate  action,  and  it  would  convey  a 
threat,  attended  by  preparation  to  execute  it,  and  naturally 
result  in  bringing  about  the  very  collision  which  every  man 
who  loves  the  peace  of  his  country  is  now  endeavoring  to 
avert. 

"In  every  view  of  the  case,  it  is  in  my  view  utterly 
improper  that  we  should  institute  such  an  inquiry  as  this. 
Senators  here  this  morning  spoke  as  if  the  garrison  at  Fort 
Moultrie  were  in  hostile  attitude  against  the  city  of  Charles- 
ton. If  so,  the  garrison  should  be  removed.  The  site 
was  given,  as  the  army  is  maintained,  for  defense.  Who 
will  or  can  reverse  the  purpose  ? 

"  I  trust  there  will  be  no  collision.  I  trust  these  troops 
are  but  to  perform  the  ordinary,  and,  so  far  as  our  country 
is  involved,  the  peaceful,  function  of  holding  that  fort  until 
transferred  to  other  duty.  But  if  there  be  danger,  permit 
me  here  to  say,  it  is  because  there  are  troops  in  it,  not  be- 
cause the  garrison  is  too  weak.  Who  hears  of  any  danger 
of  the  seizure  of  forts  where  there  is  no  garrison  ?  There 
stand  Forts  Pulaski  and  Jackson,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Savan- 
nah River.  Who  hears  of  any  apprehension  lest  Georgia 
should  seize  them?  There  are  Castle  Pinckney  and  Fort 
Sumter,  in  Charleston  Harbor.  Who  hears  of  any  danger 
of  seizure  there  ?  The  whole  danger  arises  from  the 
presence  of  United  States  troops." 

Thus  the  modern  Catiline.  Within  six  days  from  the 
date  of  this  utterance,  the  little  garrison  in  Fort  Moultrie, 
alarmed  at  the  preparations  making  in  Charleston  for  their 
capture,  evacuated  the  fort  at  night  and  took  refuge  in  Fort 
Sumter.  Next  morning  the  rebels  in  Charleston  robbed  the 


THE  SOLDIER  STATESMAN.  309 

arsenal,  where  the  treacherous  Floyd  had  stored,  for  their  use, 
ten  years'  ordinary  supplies  ;  and  armed  bands  from  the  city, 
thus  supplied  with  stolen  weapons  and  munitions  of  war, 
immediately  seized  Forts  Moultrie  and  Pinckney,  and  com- 
menced throwing  up  batteries  for  the  bombardment  of  Sum- 
ter.  All  this  they  called  a  peaceful  operation,  which  our 
government  had  no  right  to  resist.  Much  more  than  this. 
They  went  so  far  as  clamorously  to  assert  that  the  action 
of  the  United  States  in  removing  a  feeble  garrison  from  one 
of  its  own  forts,  where  it  was  menaced  by  an  assault  which 
it  could  not  resist,  to  another  fort  where  it  would  be  more 
secure,  was  an  insult  to  the  State  of  South  Carolina,  and  a 
declaration  of  war. 

On  the  day  that  Mr.  Davis  was  opposing,  in  the  United 
States  Senate,  the  strengthening  of  garrisons  at  forts  in  the 
harbor  of  Charleston,  a  convention  of  a  few  score  of  the  "  domi- 
nant race  "  in  South  Carolina,  assumed  to  break  up  the  govern- 
ment of  the  American  Union,  and  demolish  the  United  States 
as  one  of  the  nations  of  the  earth,  by  adopting  the  following 
resolution  :  We,  the  people  of  the  State  of  South  Caro- 
lina, in  convention  assembled,  do  declare  and  ordain,  and  it 
is  hereby  declared  and  ordained,  that  the  ordinance  adopted 
by  us  in  convention,  on  the  23d  of  May,  in  the  year  of  our 
Lord  1788,  whereby  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
of  America  was  ratified,  and  also  all  acts  and  parts  of  acts 
of  the  General  Assembly  of  this  State,  ratifying  the  amend- 
ments of  said  Constitution,  are  hereby  repealed,  and  that  the 
union  now  subsisting  between  South  Carolina  and  other 
States,  under  the  name  of  the  United  States  of  America,  is 
hereby  dissolved"  Therefore,  according  to  the  action  of 


310  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

South  Carolina,  dissolution  of  the  Union  was  a  determined 
fact  on  the  20th  of  December,  1860. 

As  this  is  not  a  history  of  the  rebellion,  but  the  preface 
of  a  memoir  of  one  of  the  distinguished  generals  who  re- 
pelled the  onslaughts  of  secession,  we  are  not  particularly 
concerned  in  the  details  of  the  Confederate  Government  insti- 
tuted at  Montgomery,  February  4,  1861,  by  the  action  of 
forty-two  individuals,  who  adopted  a  constitution  and  by- 
laws, and  chose  Jeiferson  Davis  President  and  Alexander 
H.  Stephens  Vice-president  of  the  Southern  Confederacy ; 
an  are  not  particularly  concerned  in  the  fact  that  it  was 
we  organization  in  which  the  people  had  no  voice,  and  that 
its  audacious  usurpation  had  no  parallel  in  history.  Its 
arrogant  assumptions  were  entirely  overshadowed  by  the 
crimes  it  afterwards  committed  in  the  name  of  law,  and  its 
annals,  if  truthfully  rendered,  would  condemn  it  to  eternal 
execration. 

In  the  preceding  chapter  it  was  found  convenient  to  give 
a  sketch  in  outline  of  the  career  of  General  Logan.  It  is 
proposed  in  the  present  chapter  to  supplement  what  was  said 
in  the  former  by  adding  the  details  of  the  more  interesting 
parts  of  the  general's  public  life.  It  is  well  known  that  he 
has  chiefly  drawn  to  himself  the  admiration  of  his  country- 
men by  his  exploits  in  the  civil  war,  and  it  is  to  that  part 
of  his  career  that  we  now  turn  with  pride.  His  military 
heroism  is  a  legacy  to  the  patriotic  annals  of  our  country, 
and  the  part  which  he  bore  in  the  day  of  our  great  trial 
must  ever  give  him  an  honorable  place  among  our  great 
captains.  As  already  said,  General  Logan's  first  military 
experience  was  as  a  soldier  in  the  Mexican  war.  He  was 


THE  SOLDIER  STATESMAN.  311 

at  the  time  of  his  enlistment  in  that  conflict  but  nineteen 
years  of  age,  but  his  bearing  in  arms  was  such  as  to  win  for 
him  from  the  first  the  esteem  of  his  comrades  and  the  ad- 
miration of  his  commanding  officers. 

July  21,  1861,  was  fought  the  first  battle  of  Bull  Run. 
Among  the  soldiers  who  bore  arms  in  the  ranks  of  the 
Union  was  a  young  Democratic  Congressman  from  Illinois. 
He  had  experienced  some  of  the  toils  and  privations  of  a 
military  campaign  in  the  Mexican  War,  where,  at  the  age  of 
nineteen,  he  earned  a  reputation  for  soldierly  courage  and  a 
lieutenancy;  and  when  his  country  again  called,  he  shoul- 
dered a  musket  and  marched  to  the  front  in  defense  of  the 
stars  and  stripes.  He  saw  his  country's  cause  wounded  and 
distressed  on  that  fateful  Sunday  at  Manassas,  and,  under 
the  impulse  of  a  noble  patriotism,  resolved  to  devote  himself 
to  her  relief. 

The  soldier  Congressman  was  John  A.  Logan.  In  Sep- 
tember, 1861,  he  returned  to  his  home,  and  immediately 
busied  himself  in  raising  men  for  the  army.  When  the 
Thirty-first  Illinois  Regiment  was  organized,  he  was  com- 
missioned as  its  colonel,  and  almost  immediately  took  the 
field.  On  the  seventh  of  the  succeeding  November  this 
young  regiment  engaged  in  its  first  battle  at  Belmont,  Mis- 
souri. The  camp  of  the  enemy  was  situated  on  a  slight 
eminence,  which  rose  a  little  back  from  the  Mississippi,  and 
thus  the  foe  were  enabled  to  witness  the  debarkation  of  the 
three  thousand  troops  brought  there  to  dislodge  them. 
They  were  not  only  prepared  to  give  the  Union  boys  a 
warm  reception  on  their  own  account,  but,  owing  to  the 
timely  intimation  they  had  of  the  attack,  had  secured  a  re- 


312  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOO  AN. 

enforcement  of  four  regiments  from  Columbus,  "  on  the  old 
Kentucky  shore." 

A  march  of  a  mile  and  a  half  brought  the  national  troops 
within  range  of  the  enemy's  guns.  The  rebel  camp  was  not 
protected  by  earthworks  worth  consideration,  but  in  lieu 
thereof  some  twenty  acres  of  timber  had  been  felled  imme- 
diately in  front  of  their  position.  Concealed  behind  this 
very  formidable  abatis,  over  which  it  was  almost  impossible 
for  our  troops  to  force  their  way,  the  rebels  fought  with 
desperation,  hurling  a  storm  of  bullets  into  the  bosoms  of 
the  patriots  who  were  struggling  through  the  entangling 
branches ;  but  after  a  struggle  of  more  than  two  hours, 
the  Union  boys  succeeded  in  surmounting  the  obstructions, 
and  gained  the  clear  space  in  front  of  the  camps.  The  com- 
mand was  then  given  for  a  charge,  and  it  was  made  with  re- 
sistless impetuosity  by  the  right,  the  left,  and  the  center. 
The  rebels  numbered  seven  to  eight  thousand  men.  Three 
thousand,  in  a  semi-circle,  under  the  flag  of  the  Union,  were 
rushing  upon  them  with  a  battle-cry  which  rose  above  the 
roar  of  artillery  and  the  incessant  volleys  of  musketry. 
Soon  all  these  thousands  were  mingled  in  inextricable  con- 
fusion, grappling  hand  to  hand  in  the  death  struggle.  A 
conflict  like  this  must  be,  necessarily,  brief.  There  rose, 
suddenly,  a  shout,  louder,  longer,  more  continuous  than  had 
been  heard  before,  and  which  resounded  far  above  the  thun- 
der of  war's  tempest.  No  one  could  mistake  it.  It  was  not 
the  frenzied  cry  of  onset,  but  the  exultant  peal  of  victory. 
The  rebel  flag  was  in  the  dust  and  the  stars  and  stripes 
waved  proudly,  announcing  that  the  field  was  redemed  from 
the  degradation  of  secession.  The  Twenty-seventh  and 


THE  SOLDIER  STATESMAN.  313 

Thirty-first  Illinois — the  latter  Colonel  Logan's  regiment — 
and  the  Seventh  Iowa,  were  the  first  who  gained  the  camp- 
ing ground  of  the  enemy;  but  they  were  almost  instantly 
followed  by  their  equally  eager  comrades.  The  rebel  troops 
retreated  in  great  disorder,  and  their  camp,  stores,  fixtures, 
and  all  belongings  were  utterly  destroyed.  Colonel  Logan's 
soldierly  qualities — his  good  judgment,  coupled  with  impet- 
uous dash  and  boldness — attracted  the  notice  of  General 
Grant  in  this  engagement,  and  it  doubtless  had  due  influ- 
ence upon  the  promotion  of  the  gallant  Illinoisan. 

Colonel  Logan's  regiment  performed  conspicuous  service 
at  the  taking  of  Forts  Henry  and  Donelson,  in  February, 
1862.  At  Donelson  he  was  seriously  wounded,  and  did  not 
rejoin  his  command  till  the  evening  of  the  last  day  of  the 
battle  of  Shiloh,  the  7th  of  the  succeeding  April.  In  the  fol- 
lowing month  he  commanded  a  brigade  at  the  siege  of  Cor- 
inth, which  was  by  no  means  a  terrible  siege,  but  was  so 
adroitly  managed  as  to  force  the  rebels  from  their  position 
without  a  general  engagement.  But  General  Logan  took  a 
part  in  the  operations  so  efficient  and  satisfactory  that  he 
elicited  the  warmest  praise  from  General  Sherman  in  the 
official  dispatches.  He  had  previously  been  promoted  to  the 
rank  of  brigadier-general. 

General  Logan's  division  of  General  McPherson's  corps 
usually  occupied  the  advance  in  the  investment  of  Vicks- 
burg,  and  on  May  12,  1863,  they  came  up  with  two  brigades 
of  the  enemy,  three  miles  in  front  of  the  town  of  Raymond. 
They  were  strongly  posted  in  a  piece  of  timber,  from  which 
they  were  driven,  after  some  hard  fighting.  Falling  back  a 
little,  they  rallied  at  Fainden's  Creek.  The  banks  of  this 


314  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

stream  are  steep,  and  then  contained  but  little  water.  In  front 
there  was  an  open  field.  Crouching  in  this  creek — a  natural 
rifle-pit — the  rebels  completely  swept  the  field  before  them 
with  their  fire.  A  charge  was  ordered.  After  a  brief  but 
terrible  struggle,  the  rebels  were  driven  pell-mell  from  their 
ditch,  in  a  thoroughly  demoralized  condition,  and  away  they 
scampered  in  the  utmost  disorder,  throwing  away  arms, 
knapsacks,  and  blankets.  The  Union  loss  was  sixty-nine 
killed,  three  hundred  and  forty-one  wounded,  and  thirty-two 
missing.  Apparently  the  rebels  had  no  time  to  report  their 
loss,  but  it  was  more  than  double  that  of  the  patriots. 

At  the  battle  of  Champion  Hill,  May  16th,  the  rebel  gen- 
eral, Pemberton,  occupied  a  strong  position.  His  army  was 
upon  an  eminence  covered  by  a  dense  growth  of  timber. 
The  battle  commenced  about  nine  in  the  morning.  Know- 
ing that  several  divisions  of  the  Union  army  were  hurrying 
forward  to  take  part  in  the  conflict,  the  rebels  decided  not 
to  await  their  arrival,  but  to  promptly  assume  the  offensive. 
Massing  their  troops,  they  hurled  them  upon  the  center  of 
General  Hovey's  line.  Hovey  held  his  position  with  great 
firmness  for  a  time,  but  was  at  length  compelled  to  fall 
back.  About  this  time  word  came  that  General  Logan  had 
gained  a  position  on  the  rebel  left,  and  was  threatening 
their  rear.  The  patriots  now  charged  with  a  huzza;  the 
rebels  were  driven  in  confusion  into  the  woods,  and  being 
vigorously  pursued,  they  were  pressed  onward  in  full  re- 
treat. This  battle  decided  the  fate  of  Vicksburg.  It  was 
thenceforth  impossible  for  Generals  Pemberton  and  Johnston 
to  effect  a  junction.  Over  one  thousand  prisoners,  and  two 
batteries,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  victors. 


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THE  SOLDIER  STATESMAN.  315 

July  4,  1863,  after  a  campaign  of  nearly  six  months,  the 
city  of  Vicksburg,  with  its  entire  garrison,  surrendered  to  the 
Union  army.  This  event  found  General  Logan  in  command 
of  the  Fifteenth  Corps,  and  his  personal  merits,  as  well  as 
those  of  his  men,  were  signalized  by  the  assignment  to  them 
of  the  post  of  honor  in  marching  to  occupy  the  city. 

The  well-known  historian,  John  S.  C.  Abbott,  in  his  ac- 
count of  the  "  March  to  Atlanta,"  says :  "  It  seems  invidi- 
ous to  select  any  one  commander  as  entitled  to  special  men- 
tion, when  nearly  all  alike  were  patriotic  and  heroic  in  the 
highest  possible  degree.  Thomas,  McPherson,  Logan,  Sco- 
field,  Rosseau,  Butterfield,  and  a  host  of  others,  merit  a 
whole  volume  to  do  justice  to  their  achievements.  There 
was  scarcely  a  day  during  this  momentous  campaign  in 
which  there  were  not  engagements  that,  in  the  early  his- 
tory of  the  war,  would  not  have  been  considered  important 
battles." 

Details  of  the  many  attacks  against  the  rebels  when 
they  were  intrenched  upon  Kenesaw  Mountain,  prove  the 
military  wisdom  of  General  Logan  in  advising  against  them. 
With  General  McPherson,  he  was  at  General  Sherman's 
head-quarters,  when  it  was  decided  to  make  the  first  attack 
upon  Kenesaw.  At  once  he  protested,  although  he  could 
scarcely  believe  the  intention  to  make  the  assault  was  ear- 
nest. Upon  discovering  that  it  was  really  contemplated,  he 
emphasized  his  protest,  coupling  it  with  the  opinion  that  to 
send  troops  against  that  mountain  would  only  result  in  use- 
less slaughter.  Finding  his  opinion  likely  to  be  disregarded,  he 
went  still  further,  and  declared  it  to  be  a  movement  which, 
in  his  judgment,  would  be  nothing  less  than  the  murder 


316  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

of  brave  men.  In  all  of  this  he  was  warmly  seconded  by 
General  McPherson.  They  did  not  succeed  in  averting  the 
slaughter. 

After  many  previous  unsuccessful  attempts  to  dislodge 
the  foe,  two  attacks  were  made  upon  his  strongholds  on  the 
29th  of  June,  1864.  General  Sherman  says:  "Both  failed, 
costing  us  many  valuable  lives ;  among  them  those  of  Generals 
Harker  and  McCook.  Colonel  Rice  and  others  were  badly 
wounded.  Our  aggregate  loss  was  near  eight  thousand, 
while  we  inflicted  comparative  little  loss  upon  the  enemy, 
who  lay  behind  his  well-formed  breastworks."  General  Sher- 
man resolved  upon  a  flank  movement.  On  July  2d,  General 
McPherson  moved  his  whole  army  down  to  Turner's  Ferry, 
across  the  Chattahoochie.  Much  of  the  march  was  after 
sunset.  It  was  a  night  of  fearful  storm  and  darkness.  Gen- 
eral Sherman  hoped,  under  cover  of  night  and  the  storm,  to 
gain  his  position  without  exciting  the  suspicion  of  the  foe. 
But  rebel  scouts  detected  the  movements,  and  General  John- 
ston fearing  the  inevitable  result  of  such  a  position  gained 
in  his  rear,  abandoned  Kenesaw,  and  all  his  important  earth- 
works there,  and  retreated  to  the  Chattahoochie.  Next 
morning  the  banner  of  beauty  was  unfurled  from  the  sum- 
mit of  Kenesaw,  and  the  army  of  freedom,  led  by  General 
Sherman,  triumphantly  entered  the  streets  of  Marietta. 
Johnston  entrenched  himself  strongly  on  the  Chattahoochie, 
but  was  soon  "driven  out  by  another  splendid  flank  move- 
ment, and  onward  marched  the  victorious  legions  of  the 
Union  to  Atlanta,  where  they  at  once  commenced  vigor- 
ously forming  their  lines  of  siege. 

July   20th,  the   first  engagement  occurred,  begun  by  a 


THE  SOLDIER  STATESMAN.  317 

sortie  from  the  rebels.  Their  repulse  was  complete.  At 
every  point  they  were  driven  back.  When  the  sun  went 
down  and  darkness  covered  the  bloody  field,  the  ground  was 
covered  with  the  abandoned  rebel  dead  and  wounded.  The 
loss  of  both  sides  was  heavy.  The  patriot  killed  and 
wounded  was  fifteen  hundred.  Our  troops  buried  near  seven 
hundred  of  the  rebel  dead.  Their  total  loss,  according  to 
General  Sherman,  could  not  have  been  less  than  five  thou- 
sand. Abbott  says,  "General  Logan  was  conspicuous  in 
this  battle.  His  achievements  merit  more  minute  detail 
than  it  is  possible  to  give  in  a  general  history." 

Morning  of  July  21st,  about  two  o'clock,  the  army  was 
roused  by  sounds  of  movements  within  the  rebel  lines.  Their 
whole  army  was  concentrating  for  a  general  attack,  but  dis- 
covery thwarted  the  design  of  surprise.  A  terrible  battle  was 
fought,  but  with  signal  disaster  to  the  foe.  On  the  morning 
of  the  22d,  General  McPherson,  with  the  right  of  the  army, 
was  on  both  sides  of  the  railroad  from  Decatur.  General 
Logan  was  on  the  right,  near  the  railroad. 

The  troops  were  all  busy  strengthening  their  fortifica- 
tions. Immediately  after  the  change  of  position  previously 
indicated,  the  rebels  emerged  from  their  ramparts,  heavily 
massed,  and  plunged  in  fiercest  onset  upon  the  troops  com- 
manded by  Generals  Leggett  and  G.  A.  Smith.  They  came 
in  such  overpowering  numbers  that  our  men,  though  valiantly 
returning  the  fire,  were  driven  back,  and  were  in  imminent 
peril  of  utter  rout.  Their  defeat  would  enable  the  foe  to 
outflank  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee,  and  to.  menace  it  with 
destruction.  Intelligent  patriot  soldiers  perceived  all  this, 
and  fought  with  desperation.  For  three  hours  the  unequal 


318  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

contest  continued.  At  length  the  Sixteenth  Corps,  which 
which  was  on  the  move  to  re-enforce  General  Logan,  arrived, 
and,  uniting  with  the  heroes  of  the  day,  rushed  into  the 
open  field,  and  met  the  enemy  face  to  face.  The  ground 
was  broken  and  rocky  and  covered  with  thorny  shrubs.  The 
whole  Army  of  the  Tennessee  was  engaged,  and,  though 
greatly  outnumbered,  held  its  own.  General  McPherson  was 
at  all  points,  encouraging,  directing,  and  inspiring  his  men. 
About  twelve  o'clock,  as  with  his  staff  he  was  riding  along 
the  embattled  lines,  a  fatal  impulse  led  him  into  a  gap  be- 
tween the  Sixteenth  and  the  Seventeenth  Corps.  Being  in 
advance  of  his  staff,  he  rode  to  the  top  of  a  ridge  near  by. 
A  party  of  rebels  sprang  from  ambush,  and  fired  a  volley 
of  bullets  upon  him.  The  brave  commander  fell,  mortally 
wounded. 

General  McPherson  was  among  the  noblest  of  that  band 
of  martyrs,  who  fell  victims  of  the  infamous  rebellion  of  the 
South.  "  He  was,"  writes  General  Sherman,  "  a  noble  youth, 
of  striking  personal  appearance,  of  the  highest  professional 
capacity,  and  with  a  heart  abounding  in  kindness,  that  drew 
to  him  the  affections  of  all  men."  By  the  death  of  General 
McPherson,  the  command  of  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee 
devolved  upon  General  Logan,  "a  man,"  says  Sherman, 
"  rivaling  his  predecessor  in  bravery,  patriotism,  and  military 
ability."  General  Logan,  as  the  news  was  transmitted  to 
him  on  the  field  that  the  command  now  rested  with  him, 
brandished  his  sword,  and  cried  out,  "  Come  on,  boys ;  let 
McPherson  be  the  rallying  cry."  For  two  hours  more  the  fight 
raged.  Says  Abbott:  "Hood  was  a  mere  reckless,  desperate 
'  fire-eater.'  In  a  frenzy  like  that  which  reigns  in  a  drunken 


THE  SOLDIER  STA  TESMAN.  319 

row,  he  hurled  his  masses,  infuriated  with  whisky,  upon  the 
patriot  lines.  He  seemed  reckless  of  slaughter,  apparently- 
resolved  to  carry  his  point  or  lose  the  last  man.  General 
Logan  was  by  no  means  his  inferior  in  impetuous  daring, 
and  far  his  superior  in  all  those  intellectual  qualities  of  cir- 
cumspection, coolness,  and  judgment  requisite  to  constitute 
a  great  general."  At  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  the 
rebels,  defeated  at  every  point,  retreated  from  the  field. 
Their  loss  was  enormous.  "  I  entertain  no  doubt,"  writes 
General  Sherman,  "that  the  enemy  sustained  an  aggregate 
loss  of  eight  thousand  men."  Our  loss  was  three  thousand 
seven  hundred  and  twenty-two. 

On  the  24th  of  July  General  Sherman  ordered  two 
forces  of  cavalry  to  move  south  from  Atlanta  to  tear  up 
railways  and  cut  off  Hood's  sources  of  supply.  One,  of  five 
thousand  men,  under  General  Stoneman,  took  the  route  to 
McDonough.  The  other,  of  four  thousand,  under  General 
McCook,  took  the  road  which  led  through  Fayetteville. 
Hood  observed  these  movements  and  comprehended  the 
threatened  danger  to  his  army.  He  therefore  determined, 
at  every  risk,  to  break  Sherman's  line.  On  the  28th  he 
massed  his  forces  for  the  desperate  endeavor.  About  noon 
of  that  day  an  immense  force  was  hurled  against  the  Fif- 
teenth Corps,  General  Logan,  but  the  charge  was  so  sternly 
received,  and  such  volleys  of  death  poured  into  their  ranks, 
that  the  insurgent  officers  could  no  longer  control  their  men, 
and  they  broke  and  fled.  Again  and  again  were  the  routed 
rebels  rallied  by  their  desperate  leaders.  Six  times  between 
noon  and  four  o'clock  they  were  driven  toward  the  frail  in- 
trenchment,  behind  which  the  patriots  awaited  them,  and  six 


320  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

times  they  were  scattered  with  terrific  slaughter.  Hood 
fought  with  the  brute  energy  of  a  madman.  Says  one  of 
the  foremost  historians  of  the  rebellion,  "On  that  bloody 
day  General  Logan's  corps  won  great  renown.  Almost 
alone  they  met  the  assault  of  these  vastly  superior  numbers, 
thus  desperately  hurled  upon  them." 

McCook,  Kilpatrick,  Howard,  and  other  efficient  men 
had  been  south  of  Atlanta  several  weeks,  and  had  accom- 
plished good  work  in  the  destruction  of  railroads  and  other 
means  of  communication.  Before  Atlanta  heavy  engage- 
ments of  arms  had  been  of  daily  occurrence,  without  per- 
ceptibly weakening  its  defenses.  But  now  a  movement  was 
made  by  General  Sherman  to  cut  off  communication  of 
every  sort,  and  so  occupy  all  the  avenues  by  the  Union 
army  as  to  send  starvation  into  the  streets  of  Atlanta  and 
seal  its  doom.  The  rebels  made  one  last  desperate  endeavor 
to  prevent  this  movement,  which,  being  successfully  accom- 
plished, would  drive  them  fugitives  from  the  "  Gate  City  of 
the  South."  General  Sherman  had  marched  more  than  a 
hundred  miles  over  the  hills  and  through  the  beautiful  val- 
leys of  Northern  Georgia.  He  had,  day  after  day,  in  unin- 
terrupted victory,  driven  the  whole  rebel  army  before  him. 
And  now  the  capture  of  Atlanta,  with  its  arsenals,  its  mag- 
azines, its  manufactories,  its  military  stores,  would  open  up 
to  him  an  unobstructed  path  through  the  very  heart  of  the 
State  to  the  sea.  He  had  fought  his  way  through  dense 
forests  and  mountain  gorges.  He  was  now  to  enter  upon  a 
level  country,  where  no  serious  impediment  could  block  his 
path.  The  rebels  understood  this  perfectly,  and  stiffened 
their  sinews  for  the  greatest  effort  of  their  lives. 


THE  SOLDIER  STATESMAN.  321 

When  General  Howard  arrived  within  half  a  mile  of 
Jonesboro',  about  noon  of  the  31st  of  July,  the  rebels 
plunged  upon  him,  inspired  by  all  the  energies  of  fury  and 
despair.  General  Logan  received  the  first  onset.  "He  was 
just  the  man  for  the  place  and  the  hour,"  says  Abbott.  Gen- 
eral Kilpatrick  had  gained  an  important  eminence,  from 
which  his  guns  dealt  destruction  to  the  foe.  In  accumu- 
lated masses  the  surging  rebels  rolled  up  the  hill.  In  a  mo- 
ment there  was  a  portentous  silence,  until  the  serried  hosts 
were  within  a  few  feet  of  the  guns.  Then  came  flash  and 
roar,  peal  upon  peal,  volley  after  volley.  The  range  was 
perfect.  There  was  no  need  for  deliberation  or  aim.  The 
gunners  worked  with  superhuman  rapidity;  shell,  grape, 
canister,  swept  through  the  ranks  of  the  foe  like  the  hail 
of  hell.  Fifteen  minutes  passed.  A  puff  of  wind  swept 
away  the  billowy  smoke.  The  rebel  column  had  vanished. 
The  ground  was  red  with  blood  and  covered  with  the  man- 
gled, ghastly  victims  of  war — some  still  in  death,  many 
writhing  in  mortal  agony. 

It  was  now  life  or  death  with  the  rebel  "  cause."  De- 
feat was  remediless  ruin.  A  second  column  was  forced  up 
the  hill.  A  second  burst  of  war's  terrific  tempest  swept 
them  to  destruction.  And  thus  the  battle  raged  till  night. 
Hardee,  the  rebel  leader  at  that  point,  had  no  regard  for  the 
lives  of  his  men.  Those  most  wretched  of  all  the  victims 
of  the  rebellion,  the  "poor  whites,"  who  by  merciless  con- 
scription had  been  forced  into  the  war,  were  driven  to  cer- 
tain slaughter  with  that  disregard  of  life  which  always  char- 
acterizes venomous  fanaticism.  Next  morning  the  battle 

was  renewed.     Nearly  the  whole  of  General   Thomas's  Di- 

21 


322  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

vision  was  now  at  hand  to  aid  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee. 
After  standing  upon  the  defensive  for  a  few  hours  and  blood- 
ily repelling  several  charges,  the  Union  boys,  in  their  turn, 
began  making  assaults.  General  Davis  made  one  of  the 
most  gallant  of  these  charges.  Union  and  disunion  struggled 
hand  to  hand  over  the  barricade.  The  star-spangled-banner 
and  treason's  flag  intertwined  their  folds.  After  a  fight  of 
four  hours  the  whole  rebel  line  was  carried,  find  their  bat- 
tery of  twenty-four  guns  captured.  The  foe  retreated  in 
confusion.  The  gloom  of  the  night,  the  unknown,  pathless 
forest,  and  the  ragged  nature  of  the  ground  forbade  pursuit. 

The  disastrous  intelligence  was  conveyed  to  Hood  at  At- 
lanta. At  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  heavy  explosions  were 
heard  in  the  city,  nearly  twenty  miles  distant.  Hood  was 
blowing  up  his  magazines,  in  preparation  for  flight.  Next 
morning,  August  2d,  General  Slocum,  who  was  watching  the 
movements  of  the  rebels  at  Atlanta,  discovered  their  retreat. 
They  were  escaping  by  roads  which  lead  eastward  towards 
Augusta.  Slocum  immediately  entered  the  city  in  triumph. 
The  colored  population  received  him  as  their  deliverer. 
Tongue  can  not  tell  the  enthusiasm  of  their  greeting. 
There  were  a  few  loyal  citizens  in  the  place,  "  faithful 
among  the  faithless."  For  their  persistent  patriotism  they 
had  suffered  untold  outrages.  With  tears  which  could  not 
be  restrained,  and  heartfelt  thanksgiving,  they  welcomed 
the  return  of  the  flag  of  the  free. 

The  foregoing  group  of  some  of  the  main  incidents  in 
General  Logan's  military  career  will  guide  the  reader  to 
those  portions  of  our  country's  history  which  relate  them 
in  detail.  There  still  remains  an  event  of  great  im- 


THE  SOLDIER  STATESMAN.  323 

portance,  which  raised  him  very  high  in  the  estimation 
of  the  friends  of  General  Thomas.  He  had  been  cut 
off  from  joining  his  command  for  the  march  to  the  sea, 
and  subsequently  reported  to  City  Point  for  orders.  He 
reached  there  just  after  the  first  order  for  General  Thomas's 
removal  before  Nashville  had  been  telegraphed  to  Washing- 
ton, and  its  promulgation  delayed.  For  the  second  time 
General  Grant  had  become  exceedingly  impatient,  and  de- 
cided to  remove  Thomas.  Upon  the  appearance  of  Logan, 
Grant  ordered  him  to  proceed  at  once  to  Nashville  and  await 
orders.  His  instructions  contemplated  his  relieving  General 
Thomas,  if,  on  his  arrival,  no  attack  had  been  made  upon 
Hood.  Here  was  a  most  brilliant  position  offered — that  of 
commander  of  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland,  just  as  it  had 
been  reorganized  and  put  in  order  for  battle,  and  stood 
in  its  trenches  ready  for  the  word  to  advance.  Had  ambi- 
tion alone  actuated  him,  here  was  the  opportunity  of  a  life- 
time of  active  service.  But  instead  of  obeying  the  spirit 
of  his  instructions,  he  proceeded  with  such  deliberation  as 
to  prove  beyond  room  for  cavil  that  self-seeking  was  not  the 
motive  which  controlled  Logan  in  the  war. 

He  moved  to  his  new  post  without  undue  haste.  He 
seemed  to  appreciate  the  situation  far  better  than  Grant 
himself.  His  leisurely  journey  to  Nashville  gave  time  for 
the  battle  to  open  under  Thomas.  And,  when  it  opened, 
Logan  telegraphed  announcing  the  beginning  of  Thomas's 
success,  and  asking  to  be  ordered  to  his  old  command. 
There  is  nothing  in  Logan's  military  history  more  creditable 
than  this.  Veterans  of  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland  will 
neither  forget  nor  fail  to  appreciate  its  true  nobility. 


324  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

Peace  came  shortly  after  the  last  of  the  foregoing 
events,  and  was  hailed  by  the  country  with  unbounded  de- 
light. It  had  been  conquered  in  the  interest  of  the  Consti- 
tution and  the  Union,  and  was  therefore  heartily  welcome 
to  all  good  citizens.  It  was  especially  grateful  to  the  dis- 
tinguished leaders  who  had  brought  this  success  through 
much  disaster,  and  whose  business  had  been  war,  to  the  ex- 
clusion of  every  thing  else,  during  four  calamitous  years. 
Under  date  of  September  12,  1864,  General  Sherman  thus 
expressed  himself  to  the  citizens  of  Atlanta :  "  The  use  of 
Atlanta  for  warlike  purposes  is  inconsistent  with  its  charac- 
ter as  a  home  for  families.  War  is  cruelty,  and  you  can  not 
refine  it ;  and  those  who  brought  war  on  our  country  deserve 
all  the  curses  and  maledictions  a  people  can  pour  out.  I 
know  that  I  had  no  hand  in  making  this  war,  and  I  know 
that  I  will  make  more  sacrifices  than  any  of  you  to-day  to 
secure  peace.  But  you  can  not  have  peace  and  a  division 
of  our  country.  If  the  United  States  submit  to  a  division 
now,  it  will  not  stop,  but  will  go  on  till  we  meet  the  fate  of 
Mexico,  which  is  eternal  war.  You  might  as  well  appeal 
against  the  thunder-storm  as  against  the  terrible  hardships 
of  war.  They  are  inevitable,  and  the  only  way  the  people 
of  Atlanta  can  hope  once  more  to  live  in  peace  and  quiet  at 
home  is  to  stop  this  war,  which  can  alone  be  done  by  admit- 
ting that  it  began  in  error  and  is  perpetuated  in  pride.  We 
don't  want  your  negroes,  or  your  horses,  or  your  houses,  or 
your  land,  or  any  thing  you  have.  But  we  do  want,  and  we 
will  have,  a  just  obedience  to  the  laws  of  the  United  States." 

It  is  wholly  a  false  notion  that  those  whose  vocation  is 
war  enjoy  it  for  its  carnage  and  destruction.  When  Caesar 


THE  SOLDIER  STATESMAN.  325 

was  engaging  all  the  world  in  war,  he  wrote  to  Tully, 
"  There  is  nothing  worthier  of  an  honest  man  than  to  have 
contention  with"  nobody."  It  was  the  highest  aggravation 
that  the  prophet  could  find  in  the  description  of  the 
greatest  wickedness,  that  "  the  way  of  peace  they  knew 
not ;"  and  the  greatest  punishment  of  all  their  crookedness 
and  perverseness  was,  that  "  they  should  not  know  peace." 
A  greater  curse  can  not  befall  the  most  wicked  nation  than 
to  be  deprived  of  peace.  There  is  nothing  of  real  and  sub- 
stantial comfort  in  the  world  that  is  not  the  product  of 
peace ;  and  whatsoever  we  may  lawfully  and  innocently  take 
delight  in  is  the  fruit  and  effect  of  peace.  All  this  was 
fully  understood  by  the  great  generals  of  the  Union,  and 
they  were  willing  to  sacrifice  their  own  peace  and  comfort 
for  a  time,  and  even  their  lives,  if  necessary,  to  the  end  that 
peace  might  be  restored  to  the  country.  Most  of  the  vol- 
unteers in  the  army  of  the  Union  offered  the  same  great 
sacrifice  to  secure  peace.  The  loyal  men  of  our  country 
were  compelled  to  conquer  a  peaceful  condition,  or  live  in 
anarchy.  Their  patriotism  and  strong  desire  for  the  restora- 
tion of  law  and  order  sent  them  to  the  front. 

There  are  many  noticeable  things  in  the  military  record 
of  General  Logan.  He  took  excellent  care  of  his  men,  and 
never  endangered  their  lives  or  sacrificed  their  comfort  when 
it  was  avoidable.  A  battle  was  never  lost  or  made  doubtful 
through  any  action  or  lack  of  action  on  his  part ;  but  many 
were  gained  through  his  promptness,  intrepidity,  and  address. 
General  Schofield  is  credited  with  the  assertion  that  "  Logan's 
care  of  his  division,  and  his  personal  presence  and  example, 
made  it  equal  to  two  of  the  ordinary  divisions  of  the  army." 


326  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

Herein  he  was  like  the  Chevalier  Bayard,  who  inspired  his 
men  with  indomitable  courage.  His  device  was  a  porcupine, 
with  the  motto:  "Vires  agminis  unus  habet" — one  man  pos- 
sesses the  power  of  a  whole  troop.  It  is  said  that  this  was 
given  him  in  consequence  of  his  having  singly  defended  a 
bridge  against  two  hundred  Spaniards.  His  example  was 
constantly  before  his  men  to  excite  them  to  deeds  of  the 
greatest  valor,  and  at  the  same  time  all  his  acts  were  con- 
trolled by  justice  and  tempered  with  mercy.  Logan  was 
invariably  as  cool  as  was  General  Perer  at  the  battle  of 
Minden.  His  corps  of  grenadiers  were  exposed  to  a  battery 
that  carried  off  whole  files  at  once.  Perer,  wishing  them 
not  to  fall  back,  rode  slowly  in  front  of  the  line  with  his 
snuff-box  in  hand,  and  said :  "  Well,  my  boys,  what's  the 
matter  ?  Eh,  cannon  ?  Well,  it  kills  you,  it  kills  you ;  that's 
all,  my  boys.  March  on,  and  never  mind  it." 

No  man  in  the  army  ever  made  headway  more  rapidly 
than  did  Logan.  He  made  his  way  through  oppositions  as 
readily  as  some  men  tread  the  flowery  paths  of  ease,  and 
forced  recognition  of  his  merits  through  the  high  imperialism 
of  genius.  His  displacement  from  a  position  which  he  had 
earned  as  the  legitimate  successor  of  General  McPherson, 
and  the  promotion  of  Howard,  was  a  blow  from  which  Logan 
will  never  recover.  He  considered  it  a  cruel  and  uncalled- 
for  humiliation,  as  it  undoubtedly  was,  and  but  for  the  en- 
treaties of  friends  he  would  have  resigned.  Succeeding  the 
evacuation  of  Atlanta,  he  went  to  Illinois  to  stump  the  State 
for  Lincoln.  After  the  election  he  returned  to  camp  and 
led  his  corps  in  the  remarkable  campaign  through  the  Caro- 
linas.  At  the  close  of  actual  fighting,  he  marched  his  men 


THE  SOLDIER  STATESMAN.  327 

to  Alexandria,  and  rode  at  their  head  in  the  grand  review 
at  Washington.  Upon  retiring  from  the  military  service  he 
issued  the  following 

FAREWELL  ADDRESS. 

"  HEADQUARTERS  ARMY  OP  THE  TENNESSEE,  "» 

"LOUISVILLE,  KY.,  July  13,  1865.  / 

"Officers  and  Soldiers  of  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee: 

"  The  profound  gratification  I  feel  in  being  authorized  to 
release  you  from  the  onerous  obligations  of  the  camp,  and 
return  you  laden  with  laurels  to  the  homes  where  warm 
hearts  wait  to  welcome  you,  is  somewhat  embittered  by  the 
painful  reflection  that  I  am  sundering  the  ties  that  trials 
have  made  true,  time  made  tender,  suffering  made  sacred, 
perils  made  proud,  heroism  made  honorable,  and  fame  made 
forever  fearless  of  the  future.  It  is  no  common  occasion 
that  demands  the  disbandonment  of  a  military  organization, 
before  the  resistless  power  of  which  mountains  bristling  with 
bayonets  have  bowed,  cities  have  surrendered,  and  millions 
of  bravt*  men  been  conquered.  Although  I  have  been  but  a 
short  time  your  commander,  we  are  not  strangers ;  affections 
have  sprung  up  between  us  during  the  long  years  of  doubts, 
gloom  and  carnage  which  we  have  passed  through  together, 
nurtured  by  common  perils,  sufferings,  and  sacrifices,  and 
riveted  by  the  memories  of  gallant  comrades,  whose  bones 
repose  beneath  the  sod  of  an  hundred  battle-fields,  which  nor 
time  nor  distance  will  weaken  or  efface.  The  many  marches 
you  have  made,  the  dangers  you  have  despised,  the  haughti- 
ness you  have  humbled,  the  duties  you  have  discharged,  the 
glory  you  have  gained,  the  destiny  you  have  discovered  for 
the  country  in  whose  cause  you  have  conquered,  all  recur  at 


328  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

this  moment  in  all  the  vividness  that  marked  the  scenes 
through  which  we  have  just  passed.  From  the  pens  of  the 
ablest  historians  of  the  land  daily  are  drifting  out  upon  the 
current  of  time,  page  upon  page,  volume  upon  volume  of 
your  heroic  deeds,  and,  floating  down  to  future  generations, 
will  inspire  the  student  of  history  with  admiration,  the 
patriot  American  with  veneration  for  his  ancestors  and  the 
love  of  republican  liberty,  with  gratitude  for  those  who  in  a 
fresh  baptism  of  blood  reconsecrated  the  powers  and  ener- 
gies of  the  Republic  to  the  cause  of  constitutional  freedom. 
Long  may  it  be  the  happy  fortune  of  each  and  every  one  of 
you  to  live  in  the  full  fruition  of  the  boundless  blessings 
you  have  secured  to  the  human  race.  Only  he  whose  heart 
has  been  thrilled  with  admiration  for  your  impetuous  and 
unyielding  valor  in  the  thickest  of  the  fight  can  appreciate 
with  what  pride  I  recount  the  brilliant  achievements  which 
immortalize  you  and  enrich  the  pages  of  our  National  his- 
tory. Passing  by  the  earlier,  but  not  less  signal  triumphs 
of  the  war,  in  which  most  of  you  participated  and  inscribed 
upon  your  banners  such  victories  as  Donelson  and  Shiloh, 
I  recur  to  campaigns,  sieges,  and  victories  that  challenge  the 
admiration  of  the  world  and  elicit  the  unwilling  applause  of 
all  Europe.  Turning  your  backs  upon  the  blood-bathed 
heights  of  Vicksburg,  you  launched  into  a  region  swarming 
with  enemies,  fighting  your  way  and  marching  without  ade- 
quate supplies,  to  answer  the  cry  for  succor  that  came  to 
you  from  the  noble  but  beleagured  army  at  Chattanooga. 
Your  steel  next  flashed  among  the  mountains  of  the  Tennes- 
see, and  your  weary  limbs  found  rest  before  the  embattled 
heights  of  Missionary  Ridge,  and  there  with  dauntless  cour- 


THE  SOLDIER  STA  TESMAN.  329 

age  you  breasted  again  the  enemy's  destructive  fire,  and 
shared  with  your  comrades  of  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland 
the  glories  of  a"  victory  than  which  no  soldiery  can  boast  a 
prouder. 

"  In  that  unexampled  campaign  of  vigilant  and  vigorous 
warfare  from  Chattanooga  to  Atlanta,  you  freshened  your 
laurels  at  Resaca,  grappling  with  the  enemy  behind  his 
works,  hurling  him  back  dismayed  and  broken.  Pursuing 
him  from  thence,  marking  your  path  with  the  graves  of 
fallen  comrades,  you  again  triumphed  over  superior  numbers 
at  Dallas,  fighting  your  way  from  there  to  the  Kenesaw 
Mountain,  and  under  the  murderous  artillery  that  frowned 
from  its  rugged  heights,  with  a  tenacity  and  constancy  that 
find  few  parallels,  you  labored,  fought,  and  suffered  through 
the  broiling  rays  of  a  Southern  midsummer  sun,  until  at 
last  you  planted  your  colors  upon  its  topmost  heights. 
Again  on  the  twenty-second  of  July,  1864,  rendered  mem- 
orable through  all  time  for  the  terrible  struggle  you  so 
heroically  maintained  under  discouraging  disasters,  and  that 
saddest  of  all  reflections,  the  loss  of  that  exemplary  soldier 
and  popular  leader,  the  lamented  McPherson,  your  match- 
less courage  turned  defeat  into  glorious  victory.  Ezra 
Chapel  and  Jonesboro,  added  new  luster  to  a  radiant  record, 
the  latter  unbarring  to  you  the  proud  Gate  City  of  the 
South.  The  daring  of  a  desperate  foe  in  thrusting  his 
legions  northward  exposed  the  country  in  your  front,  and 
though  rivers,  swamps,  and  enemies  opposed,  you  boldly  sur- 
mounted every  obstacle,  beat  down  all  opposition,  and 
marched  onward  to  the  sea.  Without  any  act  to  dim  the 
brightness  of  your  historic  page,  the  world  rang  plaudits 


330          LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

when  your  labors  and  struggles  culminated  at  Savannah, 
and  the  old  'Starry  Banner'  waved  once  more  over  the 
walls  of  one  of  our  proudest  cities  of  the  seaboard.  Scarce 
a  breathing  spell  had  passed  when  your  colors  faded  from 
the  coast,  and  your  columns  plunged  into  the  swamps  of  the 
Carolinas.  The  sufferings  you  endured,  the  labors  you  per- 
formed, and  the  success  you  achieved  in  those  morasses, 
deemed  impassable,  form  a  creditable  episode  in  the  history 
of  the  war.  Pocotaligo,  Salkahatchie,  Edisto,  Branchville, 
Orangeburg,  Columbia,  Bentonville,  Charleston,  and  Raleigh 
are  names  that  will  ever  be  suggestive  of  the  resistless 
sweep  of  your  columns  through  the  territory  that  cradled 
and  nurtured,  and  from  whence  was  sent  forth  on  its  mis- 
sion of  crime,  misery,  and  blood  the  disturbing  and  disorgan- 
izing spirit  of  secession  and  rebellion. 

"  The  work  for  which  you  pledged  your  brave  hearts 
and  brawny  arms  to  the  government  of  your  fathers,  you 
have  nobly  performed.  You  are  seen  in  the  past  gathering 
through  the  gloom  that  enveloped  the  land,  rallying  as  the 
guardians  of  man's  proudest  heritage,  forgetting  the  thread 
unwoven  in  the  loom,  quitting  the  anvil,  and  abandoning  the 
workshops  to  vindicate  the  supremacy  of  the  laws,  and  the 
authority  of  the  Constitution.  Four  years  have  you  struggled 
in  the  bloodiest  and  most  destructive  war  that  ever  drenched 
the  earth  with  human  gore;  step  by  step  you  have  borne 
our  standard,  until  to-day — over  every  fortress  and  arsenal 
that  rebellion  wrenched  from  us,  and  over  city,  town,  and 
hamlet  from  the  lakes  of  the  gulf,  and  from  ocean  to  ocean, 
proudly  floats  the  '  Starry  Emblem'  of  our  national  unity 
and  strength. 


THE  SOLDIER  STATESMAN.  331 

"Your  rewards,  my  comrades,  are  the  welcoming  plau- 
dits of  a  grateful  people,  the  consciousness  that  in  saving 
the  republic  you  have  won  for  your  country  renewed  re- 
spect and  power  at  home  and  abroad,  that  in  the  unex- 
ampled era  of  growth  and  prosperity  that  dawns  with 
peace  there  attaches  mightier  wealth  of  pride  and  glory 
than  ever  before  to  that  loved  boast,  '  I  am  an  American 
citizen.' 

"In  relinquishing  the  implements  of  war  for  those  of 
peace,  let  your  conduct  ever  be  that  of  warriors  in  time  of 
war  and  peaceful  citizens  in  time  of  peace.  Let  not  the 
luster  of  that  bright  name  that  you  have  won  as  soldiers  be 
dimmed  by  any  improper  act  as  citizens,  but  as  time  rolls 
on  let  your  record  grow  brighter  and  brighter  still. 

"JOHN  A.  LOGAN,  Major-general." 

'*  Victorious  the  hero 

Returns  from  the  wars; 
His  brow  bound  with  laurels 

That  never  will  fade, 
While  streams  the  free  standard 

Of  stripes  and  of  stars, 
Whose  field  in  the  battle 

The  foemen  dismayed. 
When  the  Secession  hosts 

In  their  madness  came  on, 
Like  a  tower  of  strength 

In  his  might  he  arose, 
Where  danger  most  threatened 

His  banner  was  borne, 
Waving  hope  to  his  friends 

And  despair  to  his  foes." 


332          LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOO  AN. 


XIV. 

THE  SOLDIER  STATESMAN.— Continued. 

"  Strange  are  the  destinies  of  men  and  States! 

And  oft,  within  the  little  round  of  life, 

Where  effort  and  effect,  so  stern  in  strife, 
Wage  battle  'neath  the  banner  of  the  fates, 
The  strong  will  works  a  noble  purpose  out, 

By  giving  scope  to  energies  sublime, 

By  putting  age-old  evils  to  the  rout  — 
Making  mankind  its  debtor  for  all  time. 

The  soldier-statesman  history  re-cast, 

And  sent  his  spirit  through  its  regions  vast."          ANON. 

IN    THE   COUNCIL. 

SOME  of  Logan's  old  political  associates  in  Illinois  ex- 
pressed surprise  that  he  could  come  back  from  the  army 
a  Republican,  but  this  was  only  for  talk.  They  knew  his 
Republicanism  dated  from  his  first  encounter  with  Democ- 
racy armed,  at  Bull  Run,  and  that  he  stumped  his  State  for 
the  Republican  ticket  during  the  second  Lincoln  campaign. 
They  were  aware,  too,  of  his  ability  to  defend  Republican 
principles,  for  he  had  proved  it  by  deeds  of  valor  whose 
fame  is  imperishable.  If  they  were  to  judge  the  soundness 
of  his  conversion  by  the  clearness  and  unanswerable  force 
of  its  declaration,  or  by  deeds,  which  are  a  still  better  test, 
then  there  was  no  lack  of  testimony;  and  in  confirmation 
of  it  all,  General  Logan  went  back  to  Congress  in  1866, 


THE  SOLDIER  STATESMAN.  333 

elected  by  the  State  at  large,  by  a  majority  of  55,987.  He 
made  his  mark  in  the  House  by  that  persistent  activity 
which  had  characterized  his  military  life  during  a  cam- 
paign of  four  busy  years,  and  was  promptly  recognized  by 
his  associates  and  the  country  as  one  of  the  great  lead- 
ers of  the  Republican  party.  He  has  been  a  genuine 
worker  in  the  national  councils.  A  fair  record  of  what  he 
has  said  and  done  there  would  fill  a  score  of  ponderous 
volumes,  and  prove  of  striking  interest  to  every  student  of 
political  history. 

Early  in  this  new  era  of  his  legislative  life  he  made  a 
speech  in  the  House,  on  "Democratic  Principles,"  which  was 
everywhere  regarded  as  a  remarkable  effort;  and  for  a  clean 
and  thorough  dissection  of  the  subject,  it  has  never  been 
excelled.  The  joints  were  severed  "at  the  clavicle,  elbow, 
hip,  ankle,  and  knee,"  and  then  the  members  articulated  to 
properly  show  the  skeleton  of  an  organization  which  had 
nothing  to  recommend  it  but  dead  men's  bones.  He  was 
found  to  be  quite  as  skilled  in  the  use  of  the  mental  scalpel 
as  in  the  Toledo  blade  of  the  man  of  wrath,  and  exhibited 
the  "  equivocation  of  the  fiend  that  lies  like  truth  "  in  all  its 
native  hideousness.  During  ten  years  or  more  the  Demo- 
cratic party  had  been  a  subject  for  dissection,  in  general 
and  in  detail,  and  although,  under  the  battery  of  events,  it 
made  an  occasional  spasmodic  movement,  it  possessed  neither 
pulse  nor  brain,  and  long  previous  to  the  date  referred  to 
its  heart  had  been  sealed  hermetically  in  a  bottle  of  high- 
wines. 

This  speech  was  delivered  July  16,  1868,  after  the  nom- 
ination of  Grant,  by  the  Republicans,  and  Seymour,  by  the 


334          LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

Democrats.  We  would  be  glad  to  reproduce  it  in  full,  but 
have  space  for  only  a  few  paragraphs.  Referring  to  the 
platform  of  the  New  York  (Seymour)  Convention,  he  says: 

"The  Democratic  platform  is  a  monument  which  is  in- 
tended to  hide  decay  and  conceal  corruption.  Like  many 
other  monuments,  it  attracts  attention  by  its  vast  propor- 
tions and  excites  disgust  by  the  falsity  of  its  inscriptions. 
The  casual  observer,  knowing  nothing  of  the  previous  life 
of  the  deceased,  who  reads  this  eulogy  upon  the  tomb,  might 
imagine  that  all  the  virtues,  the  intellect,  and  the  genius  of 
the  age  were  buried  there.  But  to  him  who  knows  that 
the  life  had  been  a  living  lie,  an  incessant  pursuit  of  base 
ends,  the  stone  is  a  mockery,  and  the  panegyric  a  fable. 

"  It  is  my  purpose  to  show,  sir,  that  this  Democratic 
platform  is  mockery  of  the  past,  and  that  its  promises  for 
the  future  are  hollow,  evasive,  and  fabulous;  that  it  disre- 
gards the  sanctities  of  truth,  and  deals  only  in  the  language 
of  the  juggler.  It  is  like  the  words  of  the  weird  witches, 
who  wrought  a  noble  nature  to  crime  and  ruin,  and  then  in 
the  hour  of  dire  extremity — 

"  '  Kept  the  word  of  promise  to  the  ear, 
And  broke  it  to  the  hope.' 

"If  we  find  that  its  proclamations  of  principles  are  only 
a  bait  for  votes ;  if  we  find  that  its  resolutions  are  incon- 
sistent, the  one  with  the  other,  and  all  contradictory  of  the 
resolutions  of  previous  years ;  if  we  find  that  instead  of 
being  a  party  promoting  the  prosperity  of  the  country  it  is 
the  party  who  attempted  the  life  of  the  country ;  if  we  find 
that  it  is  a  party  whose  policy  was  suicidal  in  peace  and 


THE  SOLDIER  STATESMAN.  335 

fratricidal  in  war;  if  we  find  that  it  is  a  party  which  has 
adhered  to  no  principle  in  times  past  except  the  principle 
of  perpetuity ;  if  we  find  that  the  men  who  now  lift  their 
voices  as  its  leaders  are  unworthy  men  who  bared  their 
blades  in  rebellion;  if  we  find  there  a  gathering  of  all  who 
are  wildly  ambitious,  thoroughly  unscrupulous,  and  danger- 
ously discontented,  then  we  may  safely  say  their  pledges 
are  all  false,  and  we  may  warn  not  only  the  soldiers  and 
sailors,  but  all  good  men,  and  particularly  all  young  men,  to 
avoid  their  snares  and  flee  from  their  delusions.  It  requires 
an  unusual  condition  of  public  affairs  to  produce  such  an 
unusual  platform,  and  we  require  to  know  what  that  condi- 
tion is  before  we  can  judge  of  it.  Let  us  see  what  is  the 
condition,  and  what  produced  it.  A  very  few  years  ago  the 
Democratic  party  were  in  power.  They  had  been  in  power 
for  many,  many  years  before.  Whatever  of  good  there  was 
in  their  policy  they  had  time  to  develop  it.  Whatever  of 
evil  there  was  they  had  had  opportunity  to  correct.  They 
did  neither  the  one  thing  nor  the  other.  There  were  no  hos- 
tile armies  then.  The  people  imagined  that  there  was  peace. 
A  few  only  believed  that  there  could  be  war.  But  war  was 
imminent.  Under  the  surface  of  peace  that  party  were  pre- 
paring for  war.  In  the  council-chambers  of  the  Nation 
they  howled  for  war.  In  the  different  departments  of  the 
government  where  they  were  trusted  and  uncontrolled  they 
were  preparing  for  war.  In  the  minds  of  the  young  and 
unsuspecting  they  sowed  the  seeds  of  war.  In  their  news- 
papers they  threatened  war.  In  the  lecture-room,  in  tKe 
college,  from  the  pulpit  and  the  rostrum,  they  invoked  war, 
and  finally,  when  they  judged  the  time  had  come  when  the 


336  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

Nation  was  most  helpless,  and  the  weapons  of  defense  most 
useless,  they  made  war,  and  war  of  what  kind  ?  Actual 
war,  treasonable  war,  war  against  those  who  had  loved  and 
fostered  them,  upon  co-dwellers  under  the  same  roof  and 
brothers  by  birth  and  blood.  How  did  war  find  us  ?  It  found 
us  as  the  ship  is  found  when  pirates  scuttle  her,  open  to  the 
mercy  of  the  waves  and  ready  to  be  ingulfed.  .  .  . 

"I  have  shown  how  we  wrestled  with  our  adversity, 
and  finally  how  we  overcame  our  enemies.  We  bore  the 
brunt  of  arms  for  the  sake  of  our  country,  and  to  uphold 
its  constitution,  its  laws,  and  its  liberties.  We  had  but  one 
desire,  and  that  was,  '  Peace  to  our  country.'  We  had  but 
one  anxiety,  and  that  was  to  preserve  intact  this  chosen 
land.  Well,  sir,  as  I  said,  the  war  was  over  and  the  victory 
was  ours.  There  was  no  longer  a  rebel  in  arms.  They  had 
dispersed,  as  we  supposed,  never  to  meet  again. 

"  But,  sir,  we  were  mistaken ;  they  have  met  again. 
Where  ?  Why,  this  time  upon  Northern  soil  and  in  a  North- 
ern city,  in  the  city  of  New  York,  the  great  metropolis  of 
this  country,  in  Democratic  convention.  I  do  not  say  that 
every  man  who  met  there  had  been  a  rebel;  but  I  do  say 
that  all  the  rebels  met  there  who  are  now  leading  in  public 
life,  and  who  hope  for  public  position.  It  was  the  same  old 
story  over  again.  The  same  old  faces  to  see.  The  men  who 
had  held  this  government  for  years  and  plotted  to  destroy 
it  while  they  held  it  were  there.  The  men  who  fought  to 
destroy  this  government  when  they  could  no  longer  hold  it 
were  there.  The  men  who,  though  they  had  never  plotted 
to  destroy  it  or  fought  against  it,  yet  quietly  acquiesced  in 
the  designs  of  those  who  did,  were  there.  The  men  who 


THE  SOLDIER  STATESMAN.  337 

have  always  given  blind  allegiance  to  the  behest  of  party 
regardless  of  the  good  of  the  country,  were  there.  The 
men  who  have  always  been  the  praters  and  croakers  and 
false  prophets  of  the  country,  were  there;  and  a  few  men 
who  had  once  served  their  country,  but  were  lured  off  by 
fatal  ambition  and  the  hope  of  spoils,  were  there.  Good 
men  may  have  been  there;  but  bad  men  were  most  certainly 
there;  and  just  as  certainly  the  bad  outnumbered  the  good; 
and  these  are  the  men,  sir,  who  complain  of  us.  These  are 
the  men  who  say  we  have  violated  the  law  and  usurped  the 
Constitution.  We  have  told  them  to  the  contrary  many  and 
many  a  time.  In  these  very  halls,  before  they  deserted 
their  places,  we  assured  them  that  we  desired  nothing  but 
the  law  and  the  Constitution.  After  they  had  erected  their 
first  batteries,  and  before  they  fired  on  Fort  Suiater,  they 
were  again  assured  that  the  law  and  the  Constitution  should 
be  kept  inviolate.  Even  after  they  had  waged  their  fiercest 
war  upon  us,  the  President  of  the  United  States  once  more 
proclaimed  that  we  fought  only  to  protect  the  Constitution 
and  the  laws. 

"  Again  and  again,  by  the  camp-fire,  under  the  flag  of 
truce,  and  in  the  hospitals,  and  in  exchange  of  prisoners  and 
in  parleys  and  communications  they  were  made  acquainted 
with  the  fact  that  we  had  but  one  object,  and  that  was  to 
enforce  the  Constitution  and  the  laws.  And  yet  again,  sir, 
when  the  battle  was  at  a  white  heat,  and  strong  arms  and 
strong  hearts  wrought  wounds  and  death,  when  the  air 
was  filled  with  lamentations  and  pierced  by  cries  of  agony, 
when  the  greedy  earth  drank  up  the  gushing  blood  of  our 
bravest  and  our  best,  we  still  advanced  but  the  one  standard. 

22 


338  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

which  was  the  old  starry  banner,  emblematic  of  the  Consti- 
tution, the  laws,  our  unity  and  strength.  Ah,  sir,  it  must 
have  been  a  humiliating  scene  at  that  convention.  Were  the 
loyal  soldiers  and  citizens  of  this  country  looking  on  when 
the  rebel  General  Preston  nominated  the  former  Union  Gen- 
eral Blair?  Did  the  loyal  sailors  and  soldiers  hear  the  rebel 
Wade  Hampton  second  the  nomination  ?  Did  the  rank  and 
file  of  the  loyal  men  listen  to  the  butcher  of  Fort  Pillow — 
Forrest  ?  Where  were  then  the  memories  of  former  treach- 
eries, of  a  nation  undone  and  a  Constitution  usurped,  of  laws 
violated  and  civil  slaughter  instituted? 

"I  have  no  desire  to  keep  alive  old  animosities,  or  to 
recall  the  past  with  a  view  to  let  it  rankle.  I  am  willing 
that  the  lessons  of  the  war  should  be  their  own  monitor  to 
those  who  learned  them.  But  when  I  hear  those  who  risked 
their  lives  to  save  our  country  charged  with  betraying  our 
country  ;  when  I  hear  those  whose  shorn  limbs  and  maimed 
trunks  are  witnesses  of  their  devotion  to  the  laws  charged 
with  breaking  the  laws ;  when  I  hear  those  who  are  now  ly- 
ing in  their  premature  graves  for  the  cause  of  the  Constitution 
charged  with  usurping  that  Constitution,  I  can  not  help  it  if 
my  indignant  heart  beats  fast  and  my  utterance  grows  thick, 
while  I  demand  to  know,  '  Who  are  ye  that  denounce  us  ?' 

"It  is  for  this  reason,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  I  say  the 
present  issue  is  one  which  concerns  our  young  men  greatly, 
because  it  contains  the  question  whether  in  any  future  war 
it  is  worth  while  for  our  young  men  to  embark  in  it.  Here- 
tofore, it  has  always  been  held  in  all  ages,  ancient  and  mod- 
ern, that  he  who  defended  his  country  was  entitled  to  the 
gratitude  of  his  country.  But  if  it  shall  be  decided  by  this 


THE  SOLDIER  STATESMAN.  339 

election  that  he  who  defends  his  country  is  to  be  aspersed 
by  his  country,  .then  the  sooner  it  is  understood  the  better 
it  will  be  for  those  who  would  have  otherwise  periled  their 
existence  at  the  call  of  their  people !  That  issue  is  involved 
in  this  campaign,  and  no  artifice  or  chicanery  should  be  per- 
mitted to  bury  it  out  of  sight.  But  what  right  have  those 
to  complain  who  were  in  the  Democratic  convention  but  yet 
were  not  in  the  rebel  ranks?  Did  they  aid  us  to  suppress 
the  rebellion?  Were  they  prompt  with  men  and  money  in 
our  need  ?  Were  they  hopeful  in  our  dark  days  and  joyful 
in  our  bright  days?  Did  they  cheer  our  soldiers  and  give 
them  the  strength  of  their  blessings  and  a  God-speed  ?  Did 
they  nurse  them  when  sick  and  succor  them  when  wounded  ? 
No,  sir ;  they  did  not,  or  else  they  would  not  be  found  to- 
day in  such  company.  The  civilian  who  supported  the 
military  in  the  day  of  the  war  has  never  yet  complained 
that  we  have  done  great  wrong,  or  never  yet  desired  to  take 
the  reigns  of  government  from  the  Republican  party. 

"  This  is  no  schism  in  our  own  ranks.  This  is  no  falling 
off  of  those  who  once  were  with  us  because  of  our  misdeeds. 
This  is  no  branch  of  the  Union  party  saying  that  we  are 
tyrants  and  usurpers  and  robbers  and  destroyers,  and  that 
therefore  they  can  support  us  no  longer.  Not  at  all.  It  is 
simply  our  old  enemies  who  have  fought  us  in  the  halls  of 
Congress  and  on  the  battle-field  and  in  campaigns  for  years, 
never  winning,  ever  failing,  but  always  fierce  and  hateful. 
It  affords  me  sincere  pleasure  that  I  may  look  again  upon 
those  who  met  so  lately  in  convention  at  the  city  of  Chicago. 
What  a  sight  was  there !  Mr.  Chairman,  there  were  gath- 
ered together  the  men  who  had  served  their  country  in 


340  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

every  capacity  to  which  duty  called  them ;  the  men  whose 
devotion  had  been  as  unswerving  as  their  fidelity  was  un- 
questioned ;  men  whose  sole  thoughts  and  whose  constant 
thoughts  were  for  their  country's  good,  and  how  best  and 
soonest  to  make  it  manifest  and  permanent ;  men  from  the 
closet,  men  from  the  camp,  men  from  the  public  station,  men 
from  private  life,  men  of  distinction,  men  unknown — but 
men,  all  of  them,  whithersoever  they  came  and  whatsoever 
they  were,  all  of  them  men  who  came  on  the  one  thought 
of  how  yet  to  aid  their  country." 

The  Republicanism  of  the  man  who  uttered  these  words 
will  scarcely  be  doubted. 

Among  other  incidental  characteristics  of  General  Logan 
may  be  mentioned  his  consistent  and  devoted  loyalty  to 
General  Ulysses  S.  Grant,  late  commander-in-chief  of  the 
Union  army  and  President  of  the  United  States.  It  will 
have  been  noted  that  on  General  Grant's  retiracy  from  the 
Presidency  he  was  still  in  the  hale  vigor  of  mature  man- 
hood. It  became  a  curious  question  what  should  be  done 
with  so  illustrious  a  citizen.  Among  other  plans  was  one 
proposed  by  the  Senate  bill  No.  1992,  to  place  that  distin- 
guished personage  on  the  retired  list  of  the  army.  The 
measure  came  up  for  consideration  on  the  24th  of  January, 
1881.  During  the  session  of  that  day  the  bill  was  called  by 
General  Logan,  who  said :  "  I  desire  to  call  up  for  consider- 
ation the  bill  to  place  Ulysses  S.  Grant,  late  general  and  late 
President  of  the  United  States,  upon  the  retired  list  of  the 
army.  I  did  not  intend  to  detain  the  Senate  a  moment; 
but  inasmuch  as  the  remarks  of  the  Senator  from  Delaware 
have  been  to  a  certain  extent  directed  to  me,  appealing  to 


THE  SOLDIER  STATESMAN.  341 

me  to  allow  this  matter  to  go  over  on  account  of  some  im- 
portant bill  in  a  similar  direction,  I  shall  be  excused  for 
saying  a  word.  It  is  a  matter  entirely  with  the  Senate  to 
say  what  disposition  it  shall  make  of  this  bill.  I  will  not 
discuss  the  bill  as  providing  for  an  exceptional  case.  I 
will  not  discuss  the  propriety  of  retiring  ex-Presidents  of 
the  United  States  in  connection  with  this  bill;  but  I  will 
merely  say,  that  in  a  great  republic  like  this,  where  there 
have  been  so  many  bills  passed  in  the  Senate  for  cases  of  an 
exceptional  character  in  connection  with  the  military  service, 
the  opposition  to  such  a  bill  as  this  looks  to  me  as  being 
rather  of  a  personal  character  than  on  account  of  the  features 
of  the  biU. 

"  When  this  great  country  was  seething  and  writhing  in 
pain,  and  a  man  led  the  victorious  armies  of  this  Union  to 
preserve  it  for  the  benefit  of  you  on  that  side  of  the  chamber 
as  well  as  of  us  on  this  side,  shall  we  be  less  magnanimous 
than  monarchs  have  been  in  past  ages  ?  When  we  read  the 
history  of  England  and  see  what  was  done  for  Wellington, 
their  great  general,  and  for  Nelson,  at  the  head  of  the  En- 
glish navy,  I  ask,  is  it  wise  for  us,  when  a  similar  act 
shall  be  asked  for  one  of  the  greatest  leaders  who  ever  led 
the  army  for  the  preservation  of  the  peace  and  prosperity  of 
this  great  land,  to  higgle  about  the  question  as  to  whether 
a  man  should  be  retired  as  an  ex-President  or  as  an  army 
officer  ? 

"The  office  of  major-general  was  made  in  the  Senate 
but  one  week  ago  for  an  officer  of  the  army,  that  he  might 
be  retired  upon  that  rank,  he  never  having  held  that  posi- 
tion ;  and  that  bill  was  passed  by  unanimous  consent,  not  a 


342  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  BLAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

vote  against  it.  When  a  man  was  placed  on  the  retired  list — 
one  of  the  colonels  of  the  army  as  a  brigadier-general — but 
a  little  over  a  year  ago,  there  was  no  voice  raised  against 
it.  When  a  man  residing  in  Oregon,  who  resigned  his  colo- 
nelcy in  the  army  at  the  beginning  of  the  war  for  reasons 
that  I  will  not  now  mention,  was  made  a  colonel  in  the  army 
by  the  action  of  the  Senate  and  the  House,  and  by  almost  a 
unanimous  vote,  that  he  might  go  on  the  retired  list,  not 
one  objection,  though  in  fact  no  great  military  service  had 
been  rendered  in  the  cause  of  this  great  government,  but 
merely  because  the  persons  benefited  were  favorites  with  a 
few,  I  will  not  say  in  this  chamber,  but  in  this  country.  All 
this  has  been  done  without  objection ;  but  when  the  name 
of  the  great  captain  and  leader  of  all  the  mighty  host  of 
this  Nation  is  presented  by  those  who  are  friendly  to  him, 
that  he  may  be  placed  on  the  retired  list  merely  with  the 
rank  that  he  held  before  (a  position  which  he  was  much 
disinclined  to  part  from  and  give  up — I  know  this  of  my 
own  knowledge) — when  he  through  his  friends  to-day  asks 
that  the  same  thing  may  be  done  for  him  that  has  been  done 
for  others — I  will  not  say  some  that  are  unworthy,  but  for 
men  certainly  not  deserving  as  much  at  the  hands  of  this 
great  Republic  of  ours  as  is  Ulysses  S.  Grant — opposition  is 
made  to  it. 

"  I  intend  to  insist  while  this  session  of  Congress*  exists 
that  this  bill  shall  be  voted  on  in  the  Senate.  Look  at  the 
banner  that  hangs  upon  the  walls  of  this  house  in  which  we 
are  to-day,  typical  of  the  banner  upon  the  walls  of  this 
mighty  Nation ;  it  reminds  me  that  the  people  of  this  country 
owe  one  debt  of  gratitude  that  they  never  can  pay,  and  that 


THE  SOLDIER  STA  TESMAN.  343 

is  the  debt  they  owe  to  the  defenders  of  this  mighty  Re- 
public. I  now  desire  to  know  if  that  has  been  wiped  out  from 
the  memories  and  hearts  of  the  American  people. 

"  But  recently  we  were  told  and  asked  to  believe  that  the 
hand  that  presented  a  shadow  on  the  wall  of  this  mighty 
Nation  of  ours,  calculated  at  least  to  arouse  fears  in  the 
minds  of  the  people  as  to  the  future  happiness  and  peace 
of  this  great  Republic,  would  soon  be  withdrawn,  and  the 
shadow  disappear.  I  hoped  that  that  might  be  true ;  but 
when  the  name  of  the  man  of  all  others  to  whom  this 
country  is  indebted,  yea,  sir,  indebted  more  than  all  the  mill- 
ions of  gold  now  within  the  vaults  of  the  treasury  could  pay, 
is  presented  to  the  American  Congress,  there  are  substitutes 
offered ;  there  are  various  and  divers  ways  of  maneuvering 
and  dodging  around  it,  that  something  else  may  be  done  which 
will  not  make  this  an  exceptional  case.-  To  retire  this  man 
as  an  ex-President,  along  with  others,  does  not  make  it  an 
exceptional  case.  I  desire  that  it  shall  be  exceptional,  and 
that  it  shall  be  a  recognition  of  Grant,  not  as  President  of 
the  United  States,  but  as  the  great  captain  of  the  loyal 
legions  of  this  mighty  Republic.  It  is  for  that  reason  that 
I  desire  this  bill  passed,  and  for  no  other  reason. 

"  But  a  few  days  have  gone  by  since,  by  one  united  vote 
and  eifort  on  the  part  of  the  other  side  of  this  chamber,  a 
person  was  retired,  at  least  as  far  as  the  Senate  could  do  it, 
with  the  highest  rank  he  had  ever  held  in  the  regular  army 
of  the  United  States.  Let  me  ask,  Senators,  why  retire  that 
man?  For  his  great  services?  For  his  great  loyalty  to  this 
country  ?  I  will  not  say  he  was  disloyal ;  but  certainly  he 
was  condemned  by  his  peers  in  the  army  and  dismissed  from 


344  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

the  service  for  improper  conduct.  Day  after  day  Senators 
on  that  side  of  the  chamber  stood  up  and  pressed  his  claim, 
and  against  all  the  protests  from  this  side  that  bill  was 
passed.  Then  when  there  is  presented  the  name  of  a  man 
against  whom  no  word  can  be  uttered  as  to  his  loyalty,  as 
to  his  courtesy,  as  to  his  great  ability  as  a  soldier  in  the 
war  of  this  mighty  Nation  for  its  preservation,  objections 
are  made. 

"  Sir,  all  I  have  to  say  is,  let  the  future  history  of  this 
mighty  Nation  of  ours,  if  it  refuses  to  do  this  act  for  this 
man,  stand  out  so  that  all  the  Nations  of  the  earth  may  read 
it  and  judge  as  to  the  generosity  of  the  United  States." 

One  of  the  principal  episodes  in  the  Senatorial  career  of 
General  Logan  has  been  his  determined  antagonism  to  the  bill 
for  the  relief  of  General  Fitz  John  Porter.  The  nature  of  the 
question  involved  in  this  measure  is  well  understood  by  the 
public.  It  will  be  remembered  that  in  the  second  battle  of 
Bull  Run  General  Porter  was  charged  with  purposely  with- 
holding his  division  of  the  army  from  the  field  until  Pope  was 
ruinously  defeated.  A  military  trial  ensued,  and  Porter  was 
condemned  on  this  charge,  dismissed  from  the  service  and 
reduced  to  infamy.  In  the  course  of  time,  however,  some 
new  light  was  thrown  upon  his  conduct  at  the  battle,  and 
his  friends  exerted  themselves  to  procure  a  reversal  of  the 
sentence.  To  this  end  a  bill  was  introduced  into  Congress. 
The  measure  for  his  restoration  was  for  the  most  part  ap- 
proved by  the  Democrats  and  opposed  by  the  Republicans. 
General  Logan  was  among  the  number  who  believed  Porter 
to  have  been  guilty,  and,  so  believing,  he  made  a  vehement 
opposition  to  the  bill  before  Congress.  His  great  address 


THE  SOLDIER  STATESMAN.  345 

on  the  subject  was  begun  in  the  Senate  on  the  29th  of  De- 
cember, 1882.  -General  Logan  said  : 

" Mr.  President :  I  know  that  it  is  very  difficult  for  Sen- 
ators to  be  required  at  each  session  of  Congress  to  listen  to 
a  protracted  discussion  of  this  question,  but  I  deem  it  my 
duty  as  long  as  I  hold  a  place  in  the  Senate,  having  very 
strong  convictions  in  reference  to  this  question,  to  oppose 
the  consummation  proposed  by  the  Senator  from  New  Jersey 
[Mr.  Sewell],  and  if  Senators  will  give  me  their  attention  I 
shall  try  to  discuss  this  proposition  upon  the  law  and  the 
facts.  I  think  there  would  be  no  difficulty  in  arriving  at  a 
correct  conclusion  in  reference  to  the  guilt  or  innocence  of 
this  person,  who  was  charged  before  a  court-martial,  if  we 
could  divest  ourselves  of  much  of  what  I  might  term  extra- 
neous matter  that  is  constantly  thrust  into  the  case. 

"This  seems  to  be  the  court  of  last  resort  in  this  case. 
In  other  words,  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  is  asked 
by-  this  bill  to  take  up  and  review  the  proceedings  of  a 
court-martial,  to  examine  the  evidence  given  before  a  Board 
of  Inquiry  subsequent  to  the  court-martial,  and  to  decide 
whether  or  not  that  court-martial  made  a  proper  decision 
according  to  the  law  and  the  facts. 

"  If  the  court-martial  decided  correctly,  according  to  the 
law  and  the  facts  before  it,  then  Congress  ought  certainly 
not  to  place  this  man  in  the  army  again.  If  that  court- 
martial  decided  against  the  law  and  the  facts,  I  do  not  deny 
that  the  power  exists  in  Congress  to  authorize  his  nomina- 
tion to  a  place  in  the  army.  I  deny  the  power  of  Congress 
to  review  the  court-martial ;  but  that  they  have  the  right  to 
authorize  him  to  be  put  in  the  army  I  do  not  deny.  When 


346  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

this  case  was  formerly  before  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States  there  was  then  a  continuing  sentence  of  the  court- 
martial  which  prohibited  him  from  holding  any  office  of  trust 
or  profit  under  the  United  States.  The  main  question  dis- 
cussed before  the  Senate  at  that  time,  or  the  one  that  en- 
grossed the  mind  of  the  Senate,  was  whether  or  not  Congress 
had  the  power  to  review  the  action  of  a  court-martial,  and 
set  aside  its  sentence.  I  took  the  ground  then  and  main- 
tained it,  I  believe,  by  decisions  of  the  courts  from  the  time 
decisions  were  made  in  this  country  in  reference  to  ques- 
tions of  that  kind,  that  Congress  did  not  have  the  power. 
Since  that  time  an  application  has  been  made  to  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  to  remit  so  much  of  the  judgment 
of  the  court-martial  as  prohibited  him  from  holding  any  office 
of  trust  or  profit.  That  has  been  done.  Now  the  question 
is  whether  or  not  the  record  of  the  court-martial  shall  be 
examined  by  Congress,  and  Congress  decide  that  that  court- 
martial  went  beyond  its  jurisdiction,  beyond  the  law  and 
the  facts,  in  finding  a  verdict  of  guilty.  If  Congress  comes  to 
the  conclusion  that  it  did,  then  Congress  may  by  an  act 
give  the  President  of  the  United  States  authority  to  nom- 
inate him  again  to  a  position  in  the  army.  Now,  what  is 
the  point  ?  There  are  but  two  questions :  First,  What  is 
the  law.  Second,  What  is  the  evidence  applicable  to  that 
law  for  this  tribunal  to  examine.  As  I  said,  if  much  extra- 
neous matter  was  laid  aside  there  would  be  but  little  diffi- 
culty in  arriving  at  a  correct  conclusion  in  this  case. 

"  The  Senator  from  New  Jersey  yesterday,  in  making  his 
remarks,  might  have  been  saved  a  great  deal  of  trouble  if  he 
had  asked  for  the  first  volume  of  the  proceedings  of  this 


THE  SOLDIER  STATESMAN.  347 

board  of  officers.  If  the  latter  part  of  it  had  been  read  to 
the  Senate,  it  would  have  saved  him  from  making  his  speech. 
If  any  one  will  examine  the  arguments  which  have  been 
made  in  his  behalf  from  the  time  this  case  was  first  pre- 
sented to  Congress  down  to  the  present  time,  he  will  find  it 
is  a  repetition  of  the  argument  made  and  filed  before  that 
board  by  Fitz  John  Porter  himself,  and  all  the  letters, 
orders,  documents,  and  every  thing  that  was  presented  here 
yesterday  are  found  in  connection  with  his  argument  before 
that  board. 

"I  was  criticised  yesterday  by  the  Senator  from  New 
Jersey  because  of  a  report  which  I  made.  But  before  pro- 
ceeding to  that,  if  the  Senate  will  excuse  me,  I  desire  to 
state  the  propositions  I  am  going  to  discuss. 

"It  has  been  attempted  in  all  the  arguments  made  in 
defense  of  Fitz  John  Porter  to  impress  upon  the  minds  of 
the  Senate  and  the  country  maxims  that  would  apply  to  this 
case.  As  read,  re-read,  reiterated  everywhere,  it  has  been 
said  that  in  these  maxims  it  is  found  that  a  commanding 
officer's  order  is  not  necessarily  to  be  obeyed,  unless  he  is 
present  and  observing  the  situation.  That  is  not  the  law, 
and  I  will  show  it. 

"  One  of  the  great  leading  maxims  in  Napoleon's  military 
experience — you  will  find  it  in  all  his  campaigns,  and  it  was 
a  standing  order  to  all  his  corps  commanders — was  that 
when  the  general  of  the  army  was  not  present  to  give 
orders,  each  corps  commander  should  march  to  the  sound  of 
the  enemy's  guns.  That  was  a  general  order  in  all  his  cam- 
paigns. We  were  told  yesterday,  and  were  told  by  the 
board  which  is  considered  immaculate  by  Senators  and  by 


348  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

some  gentlemen  in  this  country,  that  Pope  was  mistaken  first 
as  to  the  road.  Second,  he  was  mistaken  as  to  what  was 
in  Porter's  front  at  the  time.  Pope  mistaken.  Why,  Mr. 
President,  all  the  argument  that  has  been  made  in  defense 
of  this  man  has  been  an  attempt  to  try  General  John  Pope 
and  not  to  try  the  facts  in  the  case  of  Fitz  John  Porter.  I 
desire  to  reply  now,  before  I  go  any  further,  first  to  the 
Senator's  remarks  of  yesterday  in  reference  to  my  report, 
and  then  I  will  come  back  and  confine  myself  to  the  law 
and  the  facts  in  this  case. 

"The  Senator  from  New  Jersey  criticised  my  report 
because  I  had  charged  that  this  was  an  illegal  board,  with- 
out responsibility,  without  the  power  to  try  or  to  decide  or 
to  swear  witnesses,  and  he  undertook  to  argue  that  I  had 
attacked  the  board  because  I  stated  these  facts  in  my  report. 
Did  I  state  any  thing  that  was  not  true  ? 

"But,  sir,  before  proceeding  further,  I  want  to  say  that 
during  all  the  time  I  shall  discuss  this  question — from  now 
until  I  conclude — I  am  willing  to  be  interrupted,  and  asked 
any  question  on  any  law  proposition  or  any  of  the  facts, 
in  order  that  we  may  all  understand  it  and  have  it 
made  plain. 

"  Did  that  board  have  authority  to  try  this  case  ?  I  say 
no.  Why?  Where  did  the  President  get  authority  to 
authorize  any  person  to  administer  oaths,  who  was  not  a 
competent  officer  to  administer  oaths?  Will  some  one  tell 
me  ?  Where  does  the  President  get  authority  to  appoint  a 
board  to  re-examine  court-martial  proceedings  that  have 
been  approved  ?  I  should  like  some  lawyer  to  show  me  the 
law.  Sir,  this  was  attempted  when  we  discussed  this  ques- 


THE  SOLDIER  STATESMAN.  349 

tion  here  before.  A  Senator  got  up  and  read  law  to  the  Senate, 
and  called  my  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  law  authorized  a 
court  of  inquiry.  That  only  proved  to  any  one  who  had 
any  knowledge  of  military  law  that  that  Senator  did  not 
understand  military  law.  The  board  of  inquiry  authorized 
by  the  statute  is  a  board  to  inquire  into  an  officer's  conduct 
then  in  the  army,  to  see  whether  his  conduct  is  such  that 
charges  should  be  preferred  against  him  before  a  court-mar- 
tial. That  is  a  court  of  inquiry.  This  was  not  a  court  of 
inquiry.  It  was  a  board  of  three  officers  appointed  by  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  without  any  law,  without 
any  authority,  without  any  justification  or  excuse  in  law. 

"As  I  said  before,  I  say  again,  if  the  President  wanted 
to  authorize  three  officers,  or  a  dozen  officers,  to  examine 
into  a  question  and  report  to  him,  to  say  what  the  facts 
were,  so  that  he  might  form  an  opinion  as  to  his  right  to 
pardon  a  man,  that  is  one  thing;  but  when  a  board  exam- 
ines a  case  and  makes  a  recommendation  that  a  man  should 
be  restored  to  the  army  and  paid  over  $70,000,  which  was 
their  recommendation  (that  is,  it  would  have  been  that 
amount  to  have  put  him  back  as  they  recommended  him  to 
be  put  back),  that  is  beyond  their  authority;  it  is  beyond 
the  scope  of  the  authority  of  any  power  that  exists  in  law, 
and  I  defy  contradiction  from  any  man — lawyer,  judge,  or 
Senator. 

"Mr.  President,  any  man  who  will  examine  this  case 
carefully,  and  I  may  say  that  I  have  examined  it  carefully, 
without  prejudice,  will  come  to  the  conclusion  that  this 
board  paid  little  attention  whatever  to  the  evidence;  they 
perverted  and  distorted  it  in  every  possible  way.  Sir,  curi- 


350  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

ous  things  may  strike  a  board  as  well  as  other  people.  I 
should  not  have  said  a  word  about  this  board  in  this  debate 
if  it  had  not  been  that  it  has  been  brought  forward  again 
as  the  judgment  of  a  court  that  we  could  not  gainsay.  I 
ask  any  man  to  read  it  fully  and  see  if  it  is  not  a  trial  of 
McDowell,  too.  Strange  to  say,  McDowell  was  then  of  an 
age,  or  would  have  been  in  a  few  months,  to  be  retired 
from  the  major-generalcy,  and  Pope  was  the  next  ranking 
officer.  Two  of  the  gentlemen  on  this  board  were  applicants, 
one  for  McDowell's  place,  and  one  for  the  brigadiership.  If 
one  could  succeed,  both  could ;  if  one  failed,  both  must  fail. 
That  should  not  affect  their  judgment,  however,  and  perhaps 
did  not;  but,  strange  to  say,  in  every  thing,  up  to  the  time 
that  John  Pope  was  appointed  and  confirmed,  there  has  been 
in  this  case  a  war  upon  Pope  to  destroy  him.  Of  course 
that  board  had  no  such  idea  in  view,  because  neither  of  the 
two  gentlemen  who  were  on  the  board  expecting  place  would 
do  such  a  thing.  They  are  honorable  gentlemen,  and  we  ex- 
onerate them  from  every  thing  of  that  kind ;  but  it  is  curious 
that  the  attack  has  always  been  on  Pope.  I  presume  that 
will  stop  now,  inasmuch  as  he  has  been  appointed,  and  there 
will  be  no  further  necessity  for  making  war  upon  him.  Let 
us  go  a  little  into  the  unwritten  history  of  this  matter.  Sir, 
it  was  very  generally  believed  that  Fitz  John  Porter  and 
George  B.  McClellan,  and  others  that  might  be  named, 
formed  a  little  coterie  in  the  Army  of  the  East.  One  was 
to  be  President;  what  the  others  were  to  be,  God  only  knows. 
McClellan  had  been  relieved  from  the  command  of  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac,  and  Pope  had  been  put  in  his  place.  It 
was  said,  too,  all  through  the  campaign,  that  in  every  pos- 


THE  SOLDIER  STATESMAN.  351 

sible  way  he  sneered  at  Pope,  ridiculed  him  and  his 
movements. 

"Mr.  President,  the  Senator  who  votes  that  Fitz  John 
Porter  was  not  convicted  properly  and  legally  votes  that  he 
obeyed  that  order,  or  that  it  was  impossible  to  obey  it ;  any 
one  who  votes  to  relieve  this  man  from  the  sentence  of  that 
court-martial  votes  in  the  face  of  all  the  testimony  that  was 
given,  even  by  his  own  friends,  and  votes  that  the  court- 
martial  found  him  guilty  when  he  ought  to  have  been  found 
not  guilty,  when,  in  fact,  the  evidence  shows  that  he  never 
attempted  to  obey  the  order.  The  law  says  that  he  must 
obey  it;  that  he  subjects  himself  to  the  death  to  obey  it. 
He  violated  the  law,  and  violated  the  order;  and  yet,  for- 
sooth, you  say  he  is  not  guilty !  Well,  if  gentlemen  can  do 
that,  it  is  for  them  to  say,  and  not  for  me ;  but  that  is  the 
fact,  and  there  is  the  law.  Under  the  law  and  the  evidence, 
the  judgment  of  that  court-martial  was  as  righteous  a  judg- 
ment as  ever  was  given.  It  was  just,  it  was  right,  because 
it  was  in  accordance  with  the  law,  and  in  accordance  with 
the  evidence. 

"If  commanders  of  divisions  and  corps  are  to  be  per- 
mitted to  be  judges  for  themselves,  as  to  whether  they  will 
obey  an  order  or  not,  then  I  would  not  give  a  straw  for  all 
the  armies  of  the  United  States.  If  a  corps  commander  or 
division  commander  say  the  same,  why  can  not  their  colo- 
nels and  their  captains  say  the  same?  What  kind  of  an 
army  would  you  have  if  you'  gentlemen  were  all  division 
commanders  or  corps  commanders,  and  were  off  some  miles, 
the  enemy  was  approaching,  and  the  commanding  general 
should  send  orders  to  each  one  of  you  to  concentrate  at  day- 


352  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

light  to-morrow  morning,  for  the  reason  that  he  expected  either 
to  make  an  attack  or  to  be  attacked,  and  each  man  should 
say,  "Well,  it  is  too  dark;  I  will  not  go  until  to-morrow 
morning,"  and  no  one  of  you  started?  If  one  of  you  may 
disobey  an  order,  all  may.  Suppose  no  one  starts,  and  the 
general  is  left  there  with  a  small  force  to  fight,  the  next 
morning,  nobody  to  come  to  his  rescue,  nobody  to  obey  his 
orders;  what  kind  of  an  army  would  you  have? 

"  The  truth  is,  he  was  determined  not  to  fight.  He  was 
determined  not  to  obey  that  order.  He  was  determined 
that  John  Pope  should  be  whipped  that  day,  which  he  was, 
or  at  least  on  the  next  day  he  was  whipped,  but  that  day 
was  the  cause  of  it.  His  troops  were  so  broken  up  and  de- 
moralized that  day  that  when  the  fresh  troops  came  in  he 
was  not  sufficiently  strong  to  withstand  the  force  that  was 
brought  against  him. 

"Will  it  do  for  any  one  to  argue  here  that  because  a 
man  thinks  he  has  not  force  enough  to  whip  an  army  that 
therefore  he  must  not  assault  that  army,  if  a  fight  is  going 
on  anywhere  in  connection  with  that  and  another  army  ? 
Will  any  man  say  that  it  is  good  military  discipline,  that  it 
is  good  soldierly  quality,  that  it  is  the  proper  way  for  an 
officer  to  perform  his  duty  ?  Would  any  one  say  so  ?  What 
difference  would  it  have  made  to  him  as  a  soldier?  Sup- 
pose he  had  gone  in  there  feeling  that  he  would  be  whipped. 
He  says  in  his  own  dispatch  that  he  thinks  Pope's  army 
was  being  driven  to  the  rear,  that  it  was  retiring.  Was  it 
any  worse  for  him  to  be  retiring  than  it  was  for  some  of 
the  others  to  be  retiring,  or  to  be  driven  back  than  another  ? 
It  is  the  fate  of  war  that  men  shall  be  whipped.  It  is  the 


THE  SOLDIER  STA  TESMAN.  353 

fate  of  war  that  men  shall  be  driven  back  and  pushed  for- 
ward. If  I  had-  a  mind  to  stop  here  and  quote  the  history 
of  the  different  battles  that  we  all  know  and  are  conversant 
with,  so  far  as  historical  accounts  are  concerned,  I  could 
show  where  small  detachments  of  troops  have  saved  a  great 
army.  Without  quoting  it,  read  the  battle  of  Marengo, 
where  a  small  force,  late,  when  the  day  was  apparently  lost, 
came  in  and  won  the  battle. 

"When  the  Senator  from  New  Jersey  was  quoting  one 
of  the  maxims  of  Napoleon  I  answered  it  by  quoting  an- 
other, that  troops  should  always  march  to  the  sound  of  the 
enemy's  guns.  It  was  because  that  maxim  of  Napoleon  was 
not  followed  out  that  Napoleon  fell.  It  was  because  at  the 
battle  of  Waterloo  one  of  his  general's  did  not  march  to 
the  sound  of  the  enemy's  guns  that  lost  Napoleon  that  bat- 
tle and  lost  him  his  power.  If  the  maxim  of  Napoleon  had 
been  followed  out,  in  all  probability  he  would  have  been  suc- 
cessful on  that  battle-field  as  well  as  he  was  on  others. 

"During  the  whole  day,  as  Senators  will  understand 
from  reading  this  evidence,  the  only  order  he  gave  that  he 
executed  was  in  reference  to  hiding  his  men  in  the  woods 
when  two  little  pieces  of  artillery  at  Hampton  Cole's 
house  fired  a  couple  of  pieces  of  railroad  iron,  as  some 
of  the  witnesses  state;  others  say  that  there  were  four 
shots  fired ;  others  say  more,  some  say  two,  but  it  is  imma- 
terial. Suppose  there  were  twenty  shots  fired,  what  was 
the  order  from  General  Porter  ?  One  battery,  under  Mor- 
rell,  replied  to  it.  The  evidence  shows  that  the  rebel  bat- 
tery was  silenced.  What  was  Porter's  order?  It  was  to 
hide  his  men  in  the  woods  and  deceive  the  enemy,  to  play 

23 


\ 

354  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

the  same  game  on  them  that  they  would  play  on  him. 
Morrell  reports  back,  '  I  put  my  troops  all  in  the  woods,'  ex- 
cept what?  ' Except  Hazlett's  battery.'  He  was  told  to  put 
that  in  too,  but  he  testifies  that  he  did  not  do  that  for  he 
wanted  to  reserve  one  battery  for  defense.  That  is  the 
character  of  the  orders  that  Fitz  John  Porter  gave  on  the 
twenty-ninth. 

"Mr.  President,  if  this  man  had  been  a  volunteer  sol- 
dier he  would  not  have  been  permitted  to  stay  in  this  coun- 
try. There  is  no  man  who  was  in  the  volunteer  service,  a 
mere  volunteer,  who  would  ever  have  had  e  cheek '  enough 
to  come  before  Congress  or  any  other  body  and  ask  that 
this  evidence  be  spread  out  before  the  world  and  on  it  a 
reversal  of  his  sentence.  Sir,  this  only  shows  one  of  the 
dangers  to  the  future  of  this  country.  Class,  sir,  once  on 
the  bounty  of  the  government  always  on  the  bounty  of  the 
government,  no  matter  what  wrongs  they  may  perpetrate. 
See  them  swarm  now  at  Washington,  plying  their  influence 
in  this  unholy  cause. 

"  Last  night  when  I  made  the  statement  that  Longstreet's 
forces  were  engaged  on  the  twenty-ninth,  the  Senator  from 
New  Jersey  denied  it.  He  said  they  were  not  engaged,  and 
that  if  I  could  prove  it  I  would  put  the  chief  commander  in 
a  very  bad  position.  As  I  said  then,  I  was  not  discussing 
the  chief  commander  but  discussing  the  conduct  of  Fitz 
John  Porter.  The  truth  is,  the  evidence  when  taken  all  to- 
gether shows  that  the  Confederate  testimony,  at  least  as  to 
the  time  of  arrrival  of  Longstreet  on  the  battle-ground,  is 
doubtful ;  it  disagrees  very  materially  with  the  evidence  on 
the  other  side  showing  the  position  the  troops  occupied  near 


.  THE  SOLDIER  STATESMAN.  355 

Groveton  and  by  Lewis's  Lane  and  by  the  Leachman  House. 
At  the  time  Fifcz  John  Porter  made  his  first  defense,  as  the 
Senator  well  knows,  he  claimed  that  there  were  only  ten  or 
fifteen  thousand  troops  on  his  line  that  he  would  have  to  en- 
gage. Now  he  claims  that  there  were  25,000.  It  was  im- 
material whether  there  were  25,000  or  50,000. 

"  Gentlemen  try  to  excuse  this  man  Porter,  with  12,500 
men,  according  to  the  reports,  from  attacking  not  the  same 
number  or  near  the  same  number  as  his  own  when  the  flank 
was  exposed  and  it  was  not  a  front  attack.  This  is  the 
most  astounding  thing  to  me  I  have  ever  known,  that  one 
minute  they  will  insist  that  Porter  thought  there  were  10,- 
000  or  15,000  troops  in  his  front  and  he  was  afraid  to 
attack  those,  and  then  a  great  chief  will  come  up  and  put 
the  lines  square  in  front  and  tell  you  there  were  25,000 
men  there  ready  to  drive  Porter  right  in  the  front.  Then 
you  read  the  report  of  Lee,  of  Longstreet,  of  Stuart,  of 
Rosser,  of  Hood,  of  every  one  of  the  Confederates — and  I 
have  their  reports  right  here — they  every  one  show  that  the 
corps  of  Porter  was  on  Longstreet's  flank,  and  they  show 
that  Longstreet  had  in  the  battle  of  Groveton  from  4  o'clock 
that  evening  until  12  o'clock  that  night,  when  they  were 
brought  back  on  the  road  toward  Haymarket,  over  twelve 
thousand  troops  engaged  with  Pope's  command  at  Groveton 
which  were  drawn  from  his  corps  ;  and  yet  they  insist  that 
Porter  would  have  had  to  attack  twenty-five  thousand  men 
after  he  got  the  4.30  order. 

"  Sir,  you  may  take  this  case  from  one  end  to  the  other, 
and  it  has  the  most  singular  history  of  any  case  that  ever  oc- 
curred during  any  war.  It  shows  that  this  man  intended 


356  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  ANJ)  LOGAN. 

from  the  first  that  Pope  should  never  succeed.  He  went  just 
far  enough  to  make  a  pretense  of  obeying  orders  without 
obeying  them;  just  far  enough  only  to  have  it  understood 
that  he  tried  in  some  degree  to  obey  orders,  but  in  this  in- 
stance he  tried  in  no  degree.  He  refused  to  obey  the  orders, 
refused  to  move  forward.  Suppose  it  had  been  twelve 
o'clock  at  night.  I  remember  a  little  incident  that  occurred 
once  during  the  war,  showing  what  a  man  may  do  after 
night.  At  Resaca  there  was  a  line  of  troops — probably  the 
Senator  from  Georgia  knows  the  situation  of  Resaca — oppo- 
site fortifications  in  the  direction  of  a  bridge  that  ran  across 
the  river.  I  suppose  the  Senator  from  Georgia  remembers 
the  bridge  ?  " 

MR.  BROWN — "Yes,  sir." 

MR.  LOGAN — "This  line  ran  down  to  protect  the  fortifi- 
cations, throwing  a  wing  down  in  the  direction  of  the  river. 
They  were  occupied  by  a  few  troops — I  do  not  know  how 
many.  A  brigade  under  General  Charles  Woods,  a  brother 
of  Judge  Woods,  of  the  Supreme  Bench,  who  was  in  my 
command  at  the  time,  was  ordered  to  assault  those  works  at 
nine  o'clock  at  night.  He  moved  his.  brigade  in  the  dark 
and  got  under  cover  of  a  little  stream,  and  assaulted  them 
at  nine  o'clock  at  night  and  took  the  works.  Will  a  man 
tell  me,  when  a  small  brigade  can  assault  breastworks  at  nine 
o'clock  at  night,  when  no  moon  was  shining — for  it  was  a 
darker  night  than  the  one  in  question — that  it  is  an  excuse 
for  an  officer  who  receives  an  order  to  attack  at  once  that  it 
is  too  late  for  him  to  attack?  Why  was  it  not  too  late  for 
Longstreet's  forces  to  attack  Pope's  forces  near  Groveton? 
Was  it  too  late  for  McDowell's  troops  to  be  moving  that 


THE  SOLDIER  STATESMAN.  357 

night  at  eleven  o'clock  and  twelve  o'clock,  when  •  these  two 
commanders,  GTeneral  Wilcox  and  General  Hood,  both  report 
that  they  moved  between  eleven  and  twelve  o'clock  back  on 
that  road  in  the  direction  of  Haymarket  on  the  night  of  the 
29th  ?  Then  you  tell  me  it  was  too  dark  for  this  man  to 
attack !  Was  it  any  worse  for  him  to  attack  than  it  was  for 
the  other  side?  This  reminds  me  of  one  peculiar  feature 
that  is  always  the  case  in  war :  a  soldier  who  commands  an 
army  or  part  of  an  army,  who  has  full  opportunity  to  man- 
age his  troops,  the  next  morning  after  a  battle,  if  you  ask 
him  as  to  the  condition  of  his  troops,  will  tell  you,  '  They 
are  cut  all  to  pieces.'  I  have  heard  it  a  hundred  times: 
4  My  troops  have  been  cut  all  to  pieces.'  You  will  hear  that 
from  commanding  officers  of  regiments,  of  brigades,  and  of 
divisions.  But  suppose  you  ask  the  question, '  What  do  you 
think  is  the  condition  of  the  troops  on  the  other  side?'  and 
the  reply  will  be,  *  Cut  all .  to  pieces.'  But  he  does  not 
think  of  that ;  tyg  only  thinks  of  his  own  troops ;  he  does 
not  think  of  the  condition  of  the  other  side. 

"  In  conclusion,  I  want  to  ask  Senators  on  both  sides  of 
this  chamber,  and  I  want  some  one  to  tell,  why  it  is  that 
when  this  case  comes  up  it  seems  to  be  decided  on  political 
grounds.  What  is  there  in  this  case  of  politics?  It  is  a 
mere  question  as  to  whether  this  man  was  properly  convicted 
or  improperly  convicted.  It  is  not  a  question  that  politics 
should  enter  into  at  all.  It  is  the  case  of  a  man  who  was 
convicted  during  the  war,  while  a  great  many  of  you  gen- 
tlemen were  down  South  organizing  your  court-martials  and 
trying  your  own  officers  if  they  misbehaved.  You  tried 
them  according  to  the  laws  which  you  considered  ruled  and 


358  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

governed  your  army  at  that  time.  We  tried  ours  on  our 
side  according  to  the  rules  which  governed  our  army  at  that 
time  and  govern  it  now. 

"Is  it  possible  that  history  is  going  to  record  the  fact 
that  with  this  man  as  guilty  as  he  was  of  violating  the  or- 
ders sent  to  him,  each  and  every  one,  upon  which  he  was 
convicted,  that  our  friends,  because  they  differ  with  us .  in 
politics,  because  this  man  is  of  the  politics  they  are,  are  go- 
ing to  decide,  without  reference  to  the  facts  and  without  ref- 
erence to  the  law,  the  judgment  of  this  court-martial  should 
be  reconsidered,  set  aside,  and  this  man  be  put  back  in 
the  army?  There  is  no  other  ground  on  which  you  can  do 
it.  It  is  a  prejudice  against  the  court,  against  the  parties  at 
the  time,  and  nothing  else.  I  hope  that  does  not  exist ;  I 
hope  that  will  not  exist  any  longer.  It  should  not. 

"  I  do  not  think  it  comes  with  the  best  grace  for  men 
who  tried  their  own  disobedient  officers  in  their  own  way  to 
use  their  power  and  influence  to  restore  officers  whom  we 
dismissed  from  our  service  in  the  army  in  order  to  disgrace 
the  courts  which  convicted  them  and  the  President  who 
signed  the  warrants.  I  do  not  think  it  is  policy  for  men  to 
come  here  and  undertake  to  reverse  that  which  was  done  ac- 
cording to  fact  and  according  to  law.  Let  those  men  who 
were  derelict  in  duty  on  our  side,  whom  we  dealt  with,  go. 
They  are  of  no  service  to  you  and  none  to  us.  They  are  of 
no  more  service  to  the  country.  They  may  serve  them- 
selves, but  no  one  else. 

"With  the  views  I  entertain  concerning  this  case  believ- 
ing as  I  do,  that  this  man  disobeyed  lawful  orders ;  that  he 
disobeyed  those  orders  without  reference  to  the  effect  it  would 


THE  SOLDIER  STATESMAN.  359 

have  upon  the  people  of  the  United  States ;  that  he  did  it 
for  the  purpose. of  having  Pope  relieved  and  some  one  else 
put  in  his  place  who  would  be  more  congenial  to  him 
[Porter] — believing  as  I  do,  that  this  man  out  of  his  preju- 
dice against  McDowell  urged  Patterson  not  to  fight  Johnston, 
which  lost  the  first  battle  of  Bull  Run ;  that  he  refused  to 
obey  the  first  order  he  received  from  Pope  to  move  to  the 
field,  refused  to  obey  both  orders  that  he  received  to  rush 
forward  and  attack — believing  all  these  facts  to  be  com- 
pletely proven  by  the  evidence,  and  knowing  the  law  to  be 
what  it  is,  authorizing  the  court  to  inflict  the  penalty  of 
death,  and  when  they  inflicted  the  milder  penalty — believing 
that  they  let  this  man  off  with  a  much  less  penalty  than 
would  have  been  adjudged  had  he  been  tried  by  a  court- 
martial  in  any  foreign  country — with  all  these  facts  before 
me,  with  the  knowledge  I  had  of  the  generosity  of  President 
Lincoln,  with  the  knowledge  I  had  of  the  big-heartedness 
of  General  Garfield,  with  the  knowledge  I  had  of  General 
Hunter,  with  the  knowledge  I  had  of  the  other  officers 
who  sat  upon  the  court-martial,  before  I  would  give  a  vote 
to  restore  this  man  to  the  army  and  let  him  live  the  balance 
of  his  days  on  the  bounty  of  the  tax-payers  of  this  country, 
I  would  go  across  the  Potomac  River  and  kneel  down  by 
that  tomb  on  which  is  inscribed  :  '  Here  sleep  the  unknown 
dead;'  I  would  go  among  those  little  white  head-stones  that 
mark  the  place  where  those  boys  sleep  who  fell  on  the 
battle-field  of  Groveton  on  the  29th  of  August,  and  I  would 
there  in  the  presence  of  those  whitening  bones  on  my  knees 
pray  to  Almighty  God  to  forgive  me  for  the  wrong  that  I 
am  about  to  do  to  the  dead  who  have  gone,  and  the  wrong 


360  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

I  am  about  to  inflict  on  this  country,  on  the  law,  and  on  the 
facts  by  the  restoration  of  this  man  to  his  place  as  an  officer 
of  the  army.  Sir,  I  would  stand  in  the  rays  of  the  majestic 
king  of  day  and  appeal  to  the  sainted  spirit  of  Abraham 
Lincoln,  who  has  gone  before  us,  and  say :  '  Inasmuch  as 
in  examining  this  case  you  thought  this  man  was  guilty  and 
signed  the  order,  and  when  he  appealed  to  you  again  on  the 
re-examination  of  this  case  you  declined  to  take  any  action 
in  it,  before  giving  this  vote  for  his  restoration  to  the  army 
I  appeal  to  you  to  take  my  hand  and  help  me  through  this 
trouble  and  forgive  me  for  perpetrating  the  wrong  against 
your  good  name.' 

"Sir,  I  would  turn  again  and  recount  the  wrongs  that 
have  been  tried  to  be  perpetrated  on  the  life  and  character 
of  Garfield  in  reference  to  his  views  on  this  question.  I 
would  turn  to  him  in  his  silent  tomb,  and  say :  { While  you 
were  in  life  and  health  and  sound  in  judgment,  you  gave 
this  verdict,  and  by  a  re-examination  of  the  whole  record 
you  prepared  yourself  again  to  defend  that  which  you  had 
done,  but,  I,  on  account  of  the  pressure,  on  account  of  what 
has  been  said  by  certain  military  men,  am  going  out  to  do 
this  great  wrong  for  their  sake.  They  are  living,  you  are 
dead.  0  kind  and  generous  spirit,  forgive  me  that  in  my 
weakness  I  do  your  judgment,  your  conscience,  and  fair 
name  a  great  wrong.'" 


Under  date  of  February  12,  1861,  the  leading  news- 
papers of  South  Carolina,  the  Charleston  Courier,  premised 
as  follows  :  "  The  South  might,  after  uniting  with  the  new 
Confederacy,  treat  the  disorganized  and  demoralized  Northern 


THE  SOLDIER  STA  TESMAN.  361 

States  as  insurgents,  and  deny  them  recognition.  But  if 
peaceful  division  ensues,  the  South,  after  taking  the  Federal 
Capital  and  being  recognized  by  all  foreign  powers  as  the 
government  de  facto,  can,  if  they  see  proper,  recognize  the 
Northern  Confederacy,  or  confederacies,  and  enter  into  treaty 
stipulations  with  them.  Were  this  not  done,  it  would  be 
difficult  for  the  Northern  States  to  take  a  place  among  the 
nations,  and  their  flag  would  not  be  respected  or  recognized." 
This  was  not  only  a  fair  echo  of  Southern  sentiment,  but 
substantially  the  expression  of  a  very  considerable  faction  at 
the  North.  It  was  the  out-growth  of  such  expression  that 
cost  our  government  $3,000,000,000  of  treasure  and  a  mill- 
ion precious  lives  to  suppress.  It  was  the  menace  thus 
thrown  out  and  practically  acted  upon  that  aroused  the  pa- 
triotic fervor  of  the  North,  and  incited  her  millions  to  go 
forth  and  conquer  the  rebellion.  Previous  to  the  war,  it 
was  genuine  belief  that  such  threat  could  be  easily  realized 
which  struck  down  a  Senator  at  his  post  of  duty  by  the 
murderous  bludgeon  of  slavery.  During  the  war,  it  was  the 
same  belief  which  burned  at  the  stake  and  hung  innocent 
men,  women  and  children ;  that  bayonetted  helpless  boys, 
fainting  and  dying  upon  the  battle-field ;  that  shot  unarmed 
prisoners ;  that  called  to  the  aid  of  "  the  cause "  the  rifle, 
club,  and  scalping-knife  of  the  savage ;  that  made  trinkets 
of  the  bones  and  drinking  cups  of  the  skulls  of  patriots ; 
that  burned  and  froze  and  starved  to  death  sixty  thousand  of 
our  noble  young  men  who  were  helpless  in  the  hands  of  trai- 
tors. And  it  was  the  same  spirit  which  at  the  close  of  the 
war  assassinated  the  good  President,  who  had  toiled  through 
four  years  of  calamity  to  restore  the  integrity  of  the  Union ! 


362  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

It  is  not  strange  that  a  man  of  Logan's  perception  dis- 
covered the  nature  of  this  hydra  at  the  beginning,  nor  that 
he  fought  it  with  all  his  might  to  the  end.  His  patriotic 
impulse  was  well  sustained  by  a  lion  heart  and  a  knowledge 
of  war  gained  through  experience,  and  it  is  conceded  that  the 
services  he  performed  in  the  field  were  never  excelled  by  a 
general  with  corresponding  opportunities.  Upon  this  point 
the  evidence  is  overwhelming.  Incidents  are  plentiful.  He 
was  always  anxious  to  lead  his  men  in  person,  and  did  so  at 
every  opportunity.  At  the  siege  of  Vicksburg  his  division 
were  ready  to  follow  wherever  he  led,  and  their  spirit  and 
dash  became  a  proverb.  On  one  occasion  he  charged  forward 
and  back  through  a  greatly  superior  force  of  the  enemy 
several  times,  and  finally  drove  them  helter-skelter  into 
their  entrenchments  with  great  loss,  while  his  command  suf- 
fered but  few  casualties.  It  was  in  one  of  the  engage- 
ments before  Atlanta  where  his  intrepidity  and  address  were 
most  grandly  distinguished.  Chivalric  courage,  great  skill 
and  wonderful  coolness  had  carried  him  through  a  variety 
of  emergencies  and  attracted  the  attention  of  rebel  officers 
on  many  occasions,  and  it  was  resolved  by  Hood  to  put  him 
to  the  extreme  test  at  the  .first  opportunity.  Special  prep- 
arations were  made  to  overwhelm  him,  and  the  rebel  com- 
mander at  a  seasonable  time  hurled  upon  his  division  an 
immense  body  of  both  infantry  and  cavalry.  Logan  was  over- 
matched, at  least  three  to  one,  and,  like  a  prudent  man,  im- 
mediately called  for  help;  but  he  stood  upon  the  defensive 
only  long  enough  to  extend  his  lines  and  make  ready  for 
real  work.  Then  he  ordered  a  charge,  which  is  described 
as  one  of  the  most  remarkable  movements. 


THE  SOLDIER  STATESMAN.  363 

The  patriots  assailed  the  foe  with  the  greatest  impetu- 
osity, and  gained  "a  slight  advantage.  Then  a  hand-to-hand 
conflict  ensued,  the  rebels  fiercely  contesting  every  foot  of 
ground,  but  they  very  gradually  retired  toward  their  en- 
trenchments. This  mode  of  fighting  lasted  more  than  an 
hour,  and  during  its  entire  continuance  the  tall  form  of  Lo- 
gan, mounted  upon  his  strong  and  trusty  steed,  towered 
above  all  other  moving  objects,  in  the  thickest  of  the  fray, 
directing  and  encouraging  his  men  and  furnishing  an  exam- 
ple of  the  greatest  endurance.  Just  as  the  desired  re-en- 
forcements appeared  in  sight,  Hood's  squadrons  were  disap- 
pearing behind  their  shot-proof  earth-works,  and  the  Union 
general  emerged  from  the  smoke  and  dust  of  conflict  covered 
with  blood  and  powder  stains  just  in  time  to  dismount  before 
his  faithful  horse  fell  in  death,  from  twenty  horrible  wounds. 
A  few  minutes  afterward  the  rebels  sent  up  a  great  huzza, 
which  was  first  thought  to  be  the  signal  for  an  another 
sortie ;  but,  as  was  afterwards  learned  from  prisoners,  it 
was  in  hearty  recognition  of  the  Union  leader's  bravery ! 

A  performance  like  this  reminds  one  of  Marshal  Murat 
on  Mount  Tabor.  With  a  force  of  only  five  thousand  he 
found  himself  hemmed  in  by  thirty  thousand  Turks.  Fif- 
teen thousand  cavalry  came  thundering  down  upon  this 
brigade,  which  was  drawn  up  in  form  of  a  square.  For 
hours  they  maintained  the  unequal  combat,  when  Napoleon 
arrived  with  succor  on  a  neighboring  hill.  The  shot  of  a 
solitary  twelve-pounder  announced  to  his  exhausted  coun- 
trymen that  relief  was  at  hand.  Then  they  assumed  the 
offensive  and  immediately  charged  bayonet.  Nothing  was 
visible  but  a  mass  of  turbaned  heads  and  flashing  cimeters, 


364  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  ELAINE  AND  LOGAN. 

« 

except  in  the  center,  where  was  seen  a  single  white  plume 
tossing  like  a  rent  banner  over  the  throng.  For  awhile  the 
battle  thickened  where  it  stooped  and  rose  as  Murat's  war 
steed  reared  and  plunged  amid  the  saber-strokes  that  fell 
like  lightning  on  every  side,  and  then  the  multitude  surged 
back  as  a  single  rider  burst  through,  covered  with  his  own 
blood  and  that  of  his  foes,  the  arm  that  grasped  his  drip- 
ping sword  red  to  the  shoulder.  Murat's  eye  seemed  to 
burn  with  four-fold  luster,  and  with  a  shout  which  those  who 
surrounded  him  never  forgot  to  their  latest  day,  he  wheeled 
his  exhausted  stallion  on  the  foe,  and  at  the  head  of  a  body 
of  his  own  cavalry,  trampled  every  thing  down  that  opposed 
his  progress.  In  view  of  this  feat  a  cheer  ascended  from 
the  entire  field,  from  friend  and  foe  alike,  which  seemed  to 
resound  from  the  empyreal  heights,  "and  the  red  field  was 
won."  Bravery  is  recognized  and  honored  by  every  nation- 
ality and  under  every  sun,  no  matter  by  whom  exercised  or 
under  what  circumstances  proved. 

Logan's  self-composure  in  battle  was  the  wonder  and  ad- 
miration of  his  men.  Surrounded  by  the  most  appalling 
dangers,  under  the  fire  of  terrific  batteries,  while  balls  were 
whistling  in  an  incessant  shower  around  his  head,  he  sat 
upon  his  steed  and  eyed  every  discharge  with  a  coolness 
wholly  indescribable.  A  lofty  feeling  in  the  hour  of  peril 
bore  him  above  all  fear,  and  through  clouds  of  smoke  and 
the  roar  of  a  hundred  cannons  he  would  detect  at  a  glance 
the  weak  point  of  the  enemy.  These  are  the  qualities 
necessary  for  successful  warfare  in  the  field,  and  in  civil 
life  they  have  proved  of  no  little  value  to  Logan,  the  brave 
Representative  and  irreproachable  Senator. 


PART  II. 

HISTORY' OF  POLITICAL  PARTIES 


IN    THE  — 


UNITED  STATES. 


BY    HON.    LEONARD   BARNEY. 


Southey  tells  us  how  the  political  equilibrium  is  preserved  :  "In  age 
we  dislike  all  change,  as  naturally  as  in  youth  we  desire  it.  The 
youthful  generation,  in  their  ardor  for  improvement,  and  their  love  of  nov- 
elty, strive  to  demolish  what  ought  religiously  to  be  preserved.  The 
elders,  in  their  caution  and  fear,  endeavor  to  uphold  what  has  become 
useless  and  even  injurious.  Thus,  in  the  order  of  providence,  we  have 
both  the  necessary  impulse  and  the  needful  check." 

IN  "Thoughts  on  Various  Subjects,"  by  Pope  and  Swift, 
party  is  called  "  the  madness  of  many  for  the  gain  of  a  few/' 
This  sentiment  is  true  in  England,  where  it  originated,  and 
true  at  times  in  all  countries  where  parties  divide  the  voting 
population  into  antagonistic  sections.  In  our  country,  two 
parties  are  necessary,  that  one  may  hold  in  check  the  ex- 
travagances and  encroaching  tendencies  of  the  other.  Great 
differences  of  opinion  actually  existed  among  both  public 
and  private  individuals  at  and  immediately  succeeding  the 
formation  of  our  government.  They  had  no  regard  to  the 
principles  of  freedom  and  legal  equality,  for  these  were  rec- . 
ognized  by  all,  but  to  the  offices  and  powers  of  the  Federal 
Government,  the  duration  of  terms  of  office,  and  the  con- 
stitution and  functions  of  the  judiciary  and  the  legislature. 
A  free  government  was  then  an  untried  experiment, 

365 


366  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

adopted  with  anxious  hope  and  confided  in  with  trembling. 
Its  wisest  framers  did  not  fully  comprehend  its  capacities ; 
its  whole  mode  of  action  was  not  yet  fully  determined,  and 
cherished  theories  were  for  the  first  time  to  be  reduced  to 
practice.  It  was  natural  that  in  such  a  state  of  affairs  dif- 
ferent views  of  things  should  arise,  even  among  the  wise 
and  patriotic.  Nearly  every  man  in  and  about  the  govern- 
ment had  undergone  the  perils  of  war  for  freedom,  and  all 
were  anxious  to  protect  the  great  and  dearly  purchased  boon 
for  the  benefit  of  those  who  should  come  after  them.  In  a 
warmly  contested  law-suit,  it  is  seldom  that  an  intelligent 
jury  of  twelve  honest  men  can  agree  upon  a  result,  even 
after  an  undoubted  basis  of  facts  has  been  established  by 
evidence.  Much  less  could  it  be  expected  that  uniformity 
of  opinion  would  be  attained  in  so  serious  a  matter  as  that 
of  the  formation  of  a  government  for  a  vast  country,  em- 
bracing a  multitude  of  details  and  providing  for  the  exigency 
of  a  thousand  unknown  circumstances. 

At  first  these  differences  divided  the  people  widely,  and, 
with,  some  modifications  for  many  years,  into  two  distinct 
parties.  They  were  so  far  parallel  to  the  parties  of  the 
present  day  as  to  be,  the  one  for,  the  other  against,  those 
elements  of  a  general  government  which  experience  has 
shown  are  best  suited  to  the  condition  and  permanent  inter- 
ests of  the  people  of  our  land.  The  party  which  at  this 
'day  is  called  "Democratic,"  was  even  at  that  early  date 
represented  mostly  by  negatives.  The  leaders  were  in- 
variably obstructionists,  whom  the  modern  Democracy  are 
slow  to  acknowledge  as  their  originals;  yet  they  can  not 
disown  their  ancestry.  It  is  true,  they  are  able  to  discover 


HISTORY  OF  POLITICAL  PARTIES.  367 

quite  a  distinction  between  the  managers  of  the  old  party  and 
of  the  new,  but*  it  is  not  thought  to  be  of  a  kind  to  which 
they  attach  value.  It  is  this  :  the  leaders  of  the  troublesome 
minority  in  the  early  day  were  persistent  in  a  certain  line  of 
policy.  But  now,  after  so  many  years  of  reasonable  growth 
and  prosperity,  with  the  government  as  at  first  constituted 
practically  unchanged,  if  professed  statesmen  are  yet  found 
supporting  opinions  that  involve  a  practical  opposition  to  some 
of  its  most  important  principles,  what  remains  but  to  con- 
sider them  incapable  as  they  are  vacillating. 

The  earliest  division  of  the  people  was  occasioned  by 
the  primitive  attempts  to  form  a  confederacy  of  the  States, 
and  subsequently  upon  the  question  of  adopting  the  Consti- 
tution, so  anxiously  and  wisely  framed.  Discussions  in  the 
several  States  were  protracted  and  earnest.  The  friends  of 
the  Constitution,  with  Washington  at  their  head,  were  called 
Federalists;  the  enemies  of  the  Constitution,  anti-Federal- 
ists. The  "Anti's"  were  the  shouters  for  State  rights.  But 
the  Constitution  once  adopted  and  acquiesced  in,  the  ques- 
tions which  had  arisen  were  rapidly  lost  sight  of;  and  the 
latter  designation  becoming  odious,  it  was  readily  exchanged 
for  the  more  popular  name  of  Republicans. 

With  the  election  of  Jefferson,  in  1800,  power  passed 
away  from  the  hands  of  the  Federalists  ;  the  old  controverted 
points  were  forgotten  for  the  time;  new  and  exciting  ques- 
tions, as  the  impressment  of  seamen,  the  embargo,  and  vari- 
ous foreign  relations,  followed,  engrossing  the  public  mind 
and  essentially  changing  the  character  and  position  of  par- 
ties. Finally  the  war  of  1812  ensued,  which,  however  it 
may  have  been  regarded  in  its  origin,  eventually  created,  for 


368  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

the  most  part,  a  community  of  sentiment  throughout  the 
country;  and  at  the  close  of  Madison's  administration,  all 
previous  party  distinctions  were  effectually  obliterated.  We 
state  only  the  results  and  facts  which  are  fully  established  by 
contemporaneous  history. 

Mr.  Monroe  entered  upon  his  office  by  a  nearly  unani- 
mous choice  of  the  people.  The  Republican  party  of  the 
preceding  period,  known  as  such,  had  placed  itself  upon  the 
important  practical  questions  of  the  day  rather  than  upon 
any  exclusive  claims  to  democracy — certainly  none  such  as 
are  now  put  forth.  Sometimes,  it  is  true,  an  alarm  was 
even  then  occasionally  sounded  by  the  demagogue  about 
"  aristocratic  tendencies  "  with  which  opponents  were  charged ; 
but  they  had  not  made,  as  now,  a  popular  title  the  battle-cry 
of  the  party — their  first,  their  last,  their  only  argument. 
Great  measures  of  foreign  policy,  almost  wholly  absorbing 
men's  minds,  had  not  permitted  this  game  to  be  played. 
In  consequence,  moreover,  of  the  termination  of  these  ques- 
tions, and  the  defeat  of  the  Federalists  with  reference  to 
them,  that  party  ceased  to  exist  as  an  opposition.  During 
the  whole  of  Mr.  Monroe's  administration  they  gave  a  cor- 
dial support  to  the  government  and  became  merged  with 
their  former  antagonists  into  a  united  people,  wearied  with 
political  strife  and  disposed  to  take  a  calm  review  of  former 
contests. 

It  was,  in  truth,  the  "  Era  of  Good  Feeling."  Here  and 
there  were  some  of  those  small  men  who  feel  that  at  such 
times  they  have  no  chance  to  emerge  from  that  obscurity  for 
which  nature  designed  them,  who  were  endeavoring  to  main- 
tain the  old  distinctions  of  names  in  local  and  State  elections ; 


HISTORY  OF  POLITICAL  PARTIES.  369 

but  their  efforts  received  little  countenance  from  the  mass 
of  the  people.  "The  nation  desired  repose  and  a  concen- 
trated attention  to  those  matters  of  internal  improvement — 
we  use  the  term  in  its  largest  and  best  sense — which  had 
before  to  give  way  to  the  all-absorbing  questions  arising 
from  our  foreign  relations ;  and  upon  those  questions  of 
national  improvement  there  was  at  that  time  but  little  dif- 
ference of  opinion  at  the  North  or  the  South.  Southern 
men  had  no  doubt  of  the  constitutionality  and  expediency 
of  protecting  our  home  industries.  The  North  concurred  in 
this  sentiment,  although  at  that  time  its  ostensible  interests 
were  no  more  connected  with  the  question  than  those  of 
other  sections  of  the  Union.  All  felt  the  importance  of  a 
national  currency,  and  there  was  scarcely  a  shadow  of  dif- 
ference as  to  the  means  by  which  alone  it  could  be  secured. 
Neither  was  the  election  of  1824  conducted  upon  party 
grounds.  Local  interests  and  personal  predilections  predom- 
inated. Adams,  Clay,  Crawford,  and  Jackson  were  the  promi- 
nent candidates  for  the  Presidency.  They  were  all  recog- 
nized as  Republicans,  and  supported  as  such.  Failing  of  an 
election  by  the  people,  the  House  of  Representatives,  under 
the  provisions  of  the  Constitution,  elected  Mr.  Adams  to  the 
Chief  Magistracy.  In  the  contest  between  these  several 
candidates,  the  members  of  the  old  Federal  party  were  about 
equally  divided.  The  Democratic  party  of  to-day  had  not 
become  organic  at  that  period.  All  pretended  affinities  of 
a  more  ancient  date  are  unsupported  by  fact,  for  it  is  cer- 
tain that  the  old  Republicans  held  few  opinions  which  are 
entertained  now  by  the  modern  Democracy.  Most  opinions 
of  the  old  Republicans  were  entitled  to  respect. 

24 


370  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

While  the  country  was  enjoying  this  fortunate  period  of 
political  amity  an  incident  occurred  which  is  worthy  of  more 
than  ordinary  notice.  It  illustrates  how  the  most  violent 
spirits  had  felt  the  composing  influences  to  which  we  have 
alluded,  and  yielded  to  the  general  spirit  of  peace,  of  Unity 
and  Nationality  which  pervaded  the  land.  Some  other  con- 
clusions may  also  be  legitimately  drawn.  Gen.  Jackson 
wrote  a  letter  to  President  Monroe  principally  devoted  to  a 
celebration  of  the  harmony  between  the  two  parties,  and  its 
delightful  effects  upon  the  returning  prosperity  of  the  coun- 
try. He  prayed  for  a  continuance  of  this  happy  condition, 
and  therefore  advised  the  Chief  Magistrate,  as  from  his  high 
standing  in  the  regard  of  the  Nation  he  had  a  perfect  right 
to  do,  that  then  was  the  time,  to  destroy  forever  the  "  mon- 
ster party  spirit" — that  he,  the  President,  should  take  all 
pains  to  promote  so  high  and  laudable  an  object,  and  that 
in  furtherance  of  it  he  could  not  do  better  than  compose  his 
cabinet  equally  from  the  two  great  parties  into  which  the 
country  had  been  divided ! 

General  Jackson  thus  took  an  attitude  as  a  non-partisan, 
as  a  peace-maker,  as  an  adviser  of  the  appointment  of  Feder- 
alists to  office.  Although  it  is  matter  of  solemn  history,  not 
many  Democrats  will  believe  it  in  this  age.  Better  impeach 
the  record  than  admit  any  thing  so  horrifying  to  and  subver- 
sive of  pure  Democratic  principles.  But  let  us  look  a  little 
ahead  of  the  date  of  this  letter,  and  carry  our  minds  along  the 
course  of  events  some  seven  or  eight  years.  Mr.  Monroe's 
administration  had  been  conducted  on  the  noble,  liberal,  and 
most  truly  national  principles  embodied  in  General  Jackson's 
advice,  and  it  had  passed  away.  His  successor,  Mr.  Adams, 


HISTORY  OF  POLITICAL  PARTIES.  371 

had  maintained  the  same  high  ground,  although  tempted  to 
depart  from  it  by  the  most  unprincipled  attacks.  His  suc- 
cessor was  General  Jackson,  and  what  did  he  when  he  found 
himself  in  a  position  where  he  might  have  readily  and 
properly  carried  out  the  spirit  of  his  advice  to  others  ?  What 
did  he? 

Surprising  as  the  fact  may  be,  the  warmest  friend 
and  the  most  determined  foe  of  modern  Democracy  will 
agree  alike,  that  since  the  establishment  of  the  Consti- 
tution there  has  not  been  witnessed  an  administration  in 
which  so  bitter  a  party  proscription  was  carried  on  as  in 
the  reign  of  Andrew  Jackson ;  no  period  in  which  the  poli- 
ticians plea  was  so  unblushingly  avowed,  that  to  the  victor 
belong  the  spoils.  At  no  time  have  the  waters  of  political 
strife  been  let  out  in  such  an  overflowing  torrent.  A  bitter- 
ness and  savage  fierceness  unknown  to  former  conflicts 
marked  all  the  administration  of  this  most  willful  man; 
and  a  more  prescriptive  party  never  ruled  any  age  or 
time  than  that  which  had  been  studiously,  designedly,  and 
with  the  utmost  care  brought  into  being  and  fostered  during 
that  period  which,  according  to  the  noble  sentiment  of  Jack- 
son's letter  to  Monroe,  ought  to  have  been  the  golden  age 
of  peace,  of  harmony,  of  freedom  from  party  spirit,  and 
united  the  public  feeling  in  the  promotion  of  every  benefi- 
cent national  work. 

The  great  Jackson  proved  himself  to  be  a  time-server ; 
a  peddler  of  advice  so  superior  to  his  practice  that  it  might 
remind  one  of  the  old  saying  about  the  chief  of  the  Pluto- 
nian realm  quoting  Scripture.  Doubtless  the  general  had 
been  honest  in  his  advice  to  Monroe.  Men  are  always 


372  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

so  in  the  declaration  of  their  abstract  sentiments.  The 
events  which  followed  were  not  primarily  his.  There  had 
been  a  strange  genius  working  in  another  part  of  the 
Union,  who,  combining  subtlety  and  talent,  playing  upon 
the  ungovernable  passions  of  the  military  chieftain,  had  so 
transformed  the  scene,  and  dissipated  the  fair  prospect  which 
the  letter  had  given  reason  to  anticipate.  The  general  burnt 
his  fingers  while  clawing  the  chestnuts  out  of  the  fire  for 
some  one  else.  A  charge  like  this  against  Old  Hickory  has 
a  strange  look  on  paper,  but  it  embodies  one  of  the  facts  of 
history,  and  therefore,  of  course,  is  not  set  down  in  malice. 
This  genius  in  question  was  Martin  Van  Buren,  who,  dur- 
ing the  close  of  Mr.  Monroe's  administration  and  the  continu- 
ance of  Mr.  Adams's,  had  been  acting  the  role  of  "  the  mousing 
politician"  in  the  State  of  New  York.  As  the  saying  is,  "  he 
was  in  a  hole."  The  circumstances  surrounding  him  were 
peculiar.  A  very  great  man  then  had  possession  of  the 
gubernatorial  chair  of  the  Empire  State.  No  one  will  deny 
this  meed  of  praise  to  DeWitt  Clinton.  He  felt  the  spirit  of 
the  times,  and  this,  combined  with  the  workings  of  his  noble 
and  clear-sighted  intellect,  led  him  to  seek  honorable  fame 
in  promoting  the  best  interests  of  the  country.  Ambitious 
he  was,  but  in  the  noblest  sense,  to  take  advantage  of  return- 
ing peace  with  a  foreign  nation,  and  renewed  unity  at  home, 
in  projecting  and  accomplishing  that  great  scheme  of  internal 
improvement — the  New  York  and  Erie  Canal — from  which 
the  country  has  since  enjoyed  such  incalculable  benefit.  He 
completely  overshadowed  Van  Buren.  It  was  a  shade  from 
which  he  could  find  no  way  to  emerge  into  the  distinction 
he  so  ardently  coveted,  and  which  he  felt  himself  unable  to 


HISTORY  OF  POLITICAL  PARTIES.  373 

obtain  by  any  means  requiring  the  qualifications  of  a  lofty 
statesmanship. 

But  he  resolved  that  Mr.  Clinton  must  be  supplanted. 
He  was  an  obstacle  bidding  defiance  to  any  competition  to 
be  waged  upon  high  and  honorable  grounds.  There  were, 
too,  at  that  time  other  great  men  intimately  connected  with 
great  national  interests,  and  most  honorably  known  in  their 
country's  records.  Not  only  Clinton  and  Adams,  but  that 
noble  presence  at  the  mention  of  which,  even  then,  every 
heart  in  the  nation  warmed — the  noble  and  disinterested 
statesman  of  Kentucky — once  the  Mill  Boy  of  the  Slashes, 
now  Harry  of  the  West.  All  stood  uncovered  before  him. 
The  remotest  comparison  between  his  high  qualities  and  the 
mental  patch-work  of  Van  Buren  would  have  been  resented 
with  indignation. 

Clinton,  however,  was  the  special  object  of  Van  Buren's 
jealous  rage,  because  the  nearest,  and  therefore  the  most  un- 
comfortable, impediment.  The  others  were  assailable  in  their 
order.  Clinton  must  be  supplanted.  How  ?  His  antagonist 
had  no  resources  in  the  field  of  exalted  statesmanship.  His 
name  was  connected  with  no  services  in  the  war  which  had 
just  been  brought  to  a  conclusion.  He  had  no  plans  of  in- 
ternal improvement  for  the  benefit  of  generations  yet  unborn. 
He  had  no  reputation  in  the  world  of  letters  and  philosophy, 
like  his  accomplished  rival.  What  then  were  his  resources  ? 
They  were  of  a  kind  corresponding  with  the  dimensions  of 
the  man ;  and  the  humiliating  recollection  that  they  were  suc- 
cessful is  almost  lost  when  we  consider  the  tremendous  con- 
sequences for  evil  with  which  the  power  that  filched  that 
success  was  invested. 


374  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

Van  Buren  set  himself  to  a  task  for  which  his  abilities 
were  nicely  calculated.  He  found  here  and  there  some  who, 
amid  the  general  harmony,  were  unreconciled  to  civil  service 
reform,  and  were  mourning  in  obscure  places  over  that  ob- 
literation of  party  names  through  which  their  own  small 
hopes  of  distinction  would  be  forever  blotted  out.  He  laid 
his  schemes  secretly  with  these  congenial  spirits,  and  soon 
they  set  themselves  at  the  noble  work — noble  from  the 
Democratic  outlook — of  stirring  once  more  the  dying  embers 
of  party  strife.  In  the  absence  of  all  meritorious  deeds, 
they  hoped  to  rise  into  prominence  by  the  revival  of  those 
old  titles  which  Jackson  had  desired  to  consign  to  eternal 
oblivion.  Unprincipled  men  were  tempted  by  the  hope  of 
office,  and  weak  men  were  found  in  sufficient  numbers  to 
form  the  material  for  the  demagogue.  Year  after  year  the 
object  was  pursued  with  that  pertinacity  which  is  so  often 
a  trait  of  the  smallest  souls.  These  cullings  from  the  polit- 
ical slums  appropriated  to  themselves  the  title  of  Democrats, 
and  it  was  under  these  exact  conditions  that  the  present 
Democratic  party  was  formed.  Their  opponents,  in  contempt 
of  the  trick,  silently  permitted  their  success  in  the  larceny 
of  a  name.  As  in  all  organizations,  before  and  since  this 
date,  there  were  unprincipled  men  in  the  old  Federal  party, 
and  they  attached  themselves  to  this  new  phoenix  of  Democ- 
racy— which  had  so  little  likeness  to  its  alleged  sire — and, 
as  might  be  expected,  became  "Democrats"  of  the  most 
rampant  sort.  In  a  word,  the  elements  of  party  conflict 
were  again  revived  with  more  than  their  ancient  rancor. 

Federalist  was  the  name  by  which  Mr.  Clinton  and  his 
friends  were  designated,  but  for  what  reason  no  one  could 


HISTORY  OF  POLITICAL  PARTIES.  375 

tell.  Among  them  were  several  of  the  most  eminent  mem- 
bers of  the  old  Republican  party.  While  Clinton,  Clay,  and 
Adams  were  projecting  great  schemes  of  general  improve- 
ment, recommending  national  universities,  national  observa- 
tories, and  various  works  of  internal  improvement ;  devising 
plans  for  a  sound  national  currency ;  encouraging  the  efforts 
of  the  then  dawning  republics  in  South  America;  rendering 
secure  the  national  credit;  and  in  the  use  of  all  honorable 
means  striving  to  give  our  government  a  national  character, 
which,  but  for  the  subsequent  dark  days  of  Democratic  re- 
pudiation, might  have  made  us  the  envy  of  the  world ;  while 
these  true  statesmen  were  thus  employed,  Mr.  Van  Buren 
and  his  co-conspirators  were  engaged  in  the  sublime  vocation 
of  "  rousing  the  Democracy,"  of  exhuming  the  long-buried 
remains  of  old  Federalism,  and  holding  them  up  as  a  scare- 
crow for  those  of  their  clique  who  had  too  little  intelligence 
to  discern  the  miserable  cheat.  Then  they  were  all  national- 
bank  men,  all  tariff  men,  all  internal-improvement  men,  be- 
cause a  sound  and  wholesome  popular  sentiment  upon  these 
subjects  pervaded  the  country,  instead  of  that  spurious  vox 
populi  which  afterwards  resulted  from  their  own  clamor  and 
false  pretenses,  and  which  is  the  only  species  of  domestic 
manufacture  to  which  they  were  ever  at  heart  favorable. 
But  all  these  matters  were  held  in  reserve  as  subordinate  to 
the  other  great  matters  in  which  they  were  so  zealously  em- 
ployed— the  getting  up  in  some  way  the  old  party  names; 
smirching,  if  possible,  all  who  were  opposed  to  them ;  adroitly 
taking  to  themselves  the  name  of  Democrat,  and  sticking 
to  it  through  thick  and  thin  as  their  organic  declaration. 
Such  was  their  policy  then,  and  such  it  has  continued 


376  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

to  be  under  the  "Democratic"  management  of  their  suc- 
cessors. 

The  word  "Democracy,"  in  the  insignificant  application 
of  the  term  we  have  described,  elevated  General  Jackson  to 
the  executive  chair.  We  state  this  as  a  fact  of  history,  and 
with  no  desire  to  under-rate  the  successor  of  John  Quincy 
Adams.  Jackson  possessed  undoubted  executive  ability — 
by  which  we  mean  those  great  qualities  which  give  to  one 
an  indisputable  command  over  the  many.  Born  upon 
American  soil  while  this  continent  yet  owned  the  sway  of 
the  House  of  Hanover,  he  enlisted  as  a  soldier  of  liberty 
before  the  flush  of  manhood  had  deepened  in  his  cheek. 
His  growth  was  in  a  sparsely  settled  country,  hardly  to  be 
distinguished  from  a  wilderness,  where  the  force  of  law,  the 
restraints  of  society,  or  the  rules  of  civilized  life  had  but 
little  weight.  In  such  a  situation  self-preservation  and  self- 
protection  are  paramount  to  all  other  considerations.  Self- 
instructed  and  with  no  one  to  render  him  assistance  or 
make  the  opening  pathway  of  life  smooth  to  his  steps — 
without  fortune,  friends,  or  adventitious  aids — he  acquired 
an  independence  of  thought  and  action,  a  disdain  of  danger, 
and  a  contempt  of  opposition  which  followed  him  through 
all  the  vicissitudes  of  his  career.  Vigorous  in  action,  ener- 
getic in  the  execution  of  his  plans,  ignorant  of  or  despising 
alike  the  arts  of  the  courtier  and  the  nice  distinctions  of 
the  casuist,  he  in  early  life  acquired  an  influence  in  the 
border  State  of  Tennessee  which  never  deserted  him  while 
he  had  an  ambitious  wish  to  gratify  or  a  personal  desire  to 
be  fulfilled. 

It  was  not  because  he  was  deemed  a  statesman  that  he 


HISTORY  OF  POLITICAL  PARTIES.  377 

was  nominated  for  the  Presidency,  in  exclusion  of  other 
great  men  of  the  Republic.  It  was  not  because  he  was 
supposed  to  be  possessed  of  any  peculiar  insight  into  the 
nature  of  our  government,  or  of  any  intuitive  appreciation 
of  the  duties  of  its  chief  executive,  that  the  American  peo- 
ple bestowed  upon  him  their  suffrages  almost  by  acclama- 
tion. In  accurate  knowledge  of  the  science  of  government 
and  the  details  of  legislation,  Webster  and  Clay,  Calhoun 
and  Crawford,  were  immeasurably  his  superiors.  His  im- 
mediate predecessor  was  the  most  accomplished  statesman 
of  the  day ;  profoundly  learned  in  all  branches  of  knowl- 
edge; versed  in  the  history  of  his  country;  understanding 
practically  all  its  varied  and  multiform  interests.  Thus  en- 
dowed, however,  for  profound  and  wide-seeing  statesman- 
ship, and  fitted  to  remain  at  the  head  of  a  great  and  grow- 
ing Republic,  with  all  its  complicated  interests  and  foreign 
relations ;  matured  among  the  heroes  of  the  era  of  Independ- 
ence, and  himself  the  son  of  a  Revolutionary  statesman, 
John  Quincy  Adams  was,  notwithstanding,  put  down  by  a 
whirlwind  of  clamor  and  abuse,  of  falsehood  and  detraction, 
such  as  had  never  before  been  witnessed  in  the  political  his- 
tory of  the  nation ;  but  which  was  afterwards  matched  in 
the  moral  assassination  of  Clay,  and  will  be,  if  possible,  out- 
done at  any  time  the  Democracy  find  the  smallest  pretense 
to  malign  a  candidate  who  has  been  consistent  in  the  sup- 
port of  a  well-defined  and  aggressive  policy. 

General  Jackson  had  other  claims  to  popular  homage. 
It  was  the  glory  of  his  military  career  which  gave  him  this 
commanding  prominence  and  secured  the  enthusiastic  sup- 
port of  the  people.  He  had  performed  signal  service  for 


378  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

the  country  in  its  struggle  with  Great  Britain ;  he  had  con- 
ducted our  Indian  wars  with  signal  success  ;  he  had  "  assumed 
the  responsibility"  and  invaded  the  territories  of  another 
nation  without  the  sanction  of  his  own  government,  captured 
its  capital,  imprisoned  its  governor,  and  dictated  terms  of 
peace  with  the  assumed  authority  of  a  sovereign.  How  does 
that  look  for  an  aggressive  foreign  policy  ? 

Right  or  wrong,  he  never  hesitated  in  his  movements ; 
and  as  success  invariably"  attended  his  undertakings,  he 
gained  credit  for  sagacity  and  wisdom.  The  shrewdness  of 
a  few  politicians  discovered  in  his  character  a  combination  of 
qualities  that  seemed  requisite  in  a  party  leader.  The  new 
cry  of  "  Democracy "  was  raised  ;  and  the  self-commissioned 
invader  of  a  foreign  territory  suddenly  found  himself  the  idol 
of  an  organization  that  was  not  over-scrupulous  in  its  means 
of  warfare  or  its  choice  of  weapons.  The  event  justified 
the  accuracy  of  their  calculations.  The  brilliancy  of  his 
deeds  in  the  field ;  the  sternness  of  his  character ;  the  ob- 
duracy of  his  will ;  the  craftiness  of  his  methods ;  and,  it 
may  not  be  out  of  place  to  add,  his  political  obtuseness — all 
were  reflected  from  his  person  through  the  long  line  of  his 
partisans,  and  conspired  to  fill  even  the  humblest  with  an 
ardor  they  were  incapable  of  analyzing,  but  which  they  well 
understood  presaged  a  party  triumph. 

As  a  citizen,  the  conduct  of  General  Jackson  had  been 
equally  distinguished  by  stirring  events.  Rough  and  tum- 
ble street  fights,  rencounters,  duels,  and  all  those  customs 
which  make  border  life  exciting,  in  which  rapidity  of  move- 
ment and  personal  courage  are  decisive,  were  the  means 
chosen  by  him  to  settle  private  controversies ;  and  these 


HISTORY  OF  POLITICAL  PARTIES.  379 

were  sufficiently  frequent  to  claim  a  good  deal  of  attention. 
As  a  legislator  he  had  not  distinguished  himself,  unless  it 
may  be  in  the  characteristic  threats  to  cut  off  the  ears  of 
an  unlucky  member  of  Congress  who  had  ventured  to 
inquire  into  the  legality  of  his  acts.  He  made  no  preten- 
sion to  learning  or  scholarship  of  any  kind.  His  education 
was  wholly  superficial,  and  barely  enough  to  conduct  him 
decently  through  life.  Such  are  the  outlines  of  the  charac- 
ter and  history  of  the  man  who  was  chosen  to  preside  over 
a  government  of  seventeen  millions  of  people,  as  enlightened 
as  any  portion  of  the  world. 

The  history  of  his  administration  forms  a  counterpart  to 
his  military  career  and  his  private  life.  He  entered  upon 
the  discharge  of  the  duties  of  his  high  office  with  an  honest 
desire  to  serve  his  country  faithfully  and  with  the  intention 
of  observing  strict  justice  and  equity  in  regard  to  men  and 
measures.  But  the  affairs  of  a  great  nation  and  the  diver- 
sified interests  of  a  widely  extended  country  could  not  be 
managed  without  many  differences  of  opinion  arising  be- 
tween the  two  great  parties,  nor,  indeed,  without  creating 
serious  dissensions  in  the  dominant  party  itself.  The  plans 
and  policy  of  the  President  did  not  by  any  means  meet 
with  universal  favor,  and  at  the  first  serious  opposition  his 
wrath  was  kindled.  He  could  never  forget  nor  forgive  any 
one  who  placed  an  obstacle  in  his  path  from  the  conception 
to  the  accomplishment  of  a  design.  Regarding  his  own 
opinion  as  the  law  of  the  land,  he  looked  upon  every  man 
who  withstood  his  will  as  a  villain.  Bold  measures,  hastily 
conceived  and  entered  upon  with  little  apparent  delibera- 
tion, were  pertinaciously  adhered  to  and  crammed  down  the 


380  THE  VOTERS1  HANDBOOK. 

throats  of  his  partisans;  not,  however,  without  some  grim- 
aces and  contortions  of  countenance.  Obedience  to  the  com- 
mands of  the  party  had  become  a  settled  law ;  and  as  the  party 
derived  its  vitality  and  strength  from  the  character  and  energy 
of  its  chief,  his  simple  word  was  in  all  controverted  cases  held 
paramount  to  the  Constitution.  In  the  matter  of  infallability 
he  was  allowed  precedence  of  all  rulers,  both  temporal  and 
spiritual.  The  voice  of  the  people  expressed  through  their 
chosen  representatives  was  to  him  and  his  adherents  as  an 
idle  mind.  The  behests  of  sovereign  States  conveyed  through 
their  senatorial  guardians  were  equally  ineffectual.  At  one 
time  the  Constitution  was  not  broad  enough  to  meet  his  pur- 
poses. He  gave  to.  its  provisions  an  interpretation  of  such 
latitudinarian  scope  as  to  astonish  a  section  even  of  his 
allies,  and  their  anathemas,  neither  few  nor  indistinctly  ut- 
tered, were  hurled  against  him.  At  another  time  he  was 
found  to  be  so  strict  a  constructionist  as  to  refuse  the  ex- 
ercise of  those  discretionary  powers  which,  for  great  ends, 
have  been  wisely  deposited  in  the  executive. 

It  was  expected,  of  course,  that  he  would  fill  all  the 
chief  posts  of  trust  with  those  friendly  to  his  interests  and 
holding  similarity  of  views.  Harmony  in  the  government 
would  require  this,  to  say  nothing  of  the  policy  and  pro- 
priety of  the  course  on  other  grounds.  But  the  supreme 
dictator  went  far  beyond  this  point.  Acting  upon  the  prin- 
ciple that  the  honors  and  emoluments  of  office  were  spoils 
to  be  awarded  to  the  victors  in  the  political  arena,  and 
treating  all  who  were  of  another  party  as  enemies  to  their 
country,  he  thrust  out  thousands  of  incumbents  from  the 
petty  posts  scattered  from  Maine  to  Georgia  and  from  the 


HISTORY  OF  POLITICAL  PARTIES.  381 

Atlantic  to  the  Rocky  Mountains.  This  was  done  irrespec- 
tive of  character,  services,  and  situation,  till  there  was 
scarcely  a  postmaster  or  petty  tide-waiter  in  office  who  had 
not  blown  his  penny  trumpet  in  honor  of  the  victorious 
chief,  or  lisped  with  becoming  reverence  and  precision  the 
shibboleth  of  "  the  party."  Patriotism  and  love  .of  place  do 
not  go  hand  in  hand.  If  office  be  the  sure  reward  of  party 
fealty  and  devotion,  hypocrisy  and  a  contempt  of  the  well- 
being  of  society  will  most  surely  follow.  For  this  innova- 
tion in  our  political  system,  the  country  must  render  due 
thanks  to  General  Jackson.  That  he  was  besieged  by  a 
host  of  applicants  clamorous  for  benefactions,  and  often 
violated  his  own  views  of  propriety  to  favor  a  friend,  is  no 
doubt  true ;  but  this  does  not  lessen  the  evil  nor  diminish 
the  responsibility  of  his  acts.  He  was  President  of  the 
Nation,  and  it  is  a  sorrowful  reflection  indeed  that  he  had 
not  virtue  enough  to  forget  that  he  was  chief  of  a  party. 
It  is  vain  to  imagine  what  civil  service  reform  might  have 
done  for  such  a  man,  in  whose  administration  there  was 
really  so  much  room  for  improvement,  for  spoils  became  his 
prime  end  and  aim  before  the  first  twelve  months  of  his 
term  had  expired. 

Some  of  his  methods  are  worth  studying  for  the  lesson 
they  inculcate.  An  enemy  was  at  the  head  of  one  of  the 
branches  of  the  United  States  Bank.  The  President  failed 
to  influence  his  removal  and  procure  the  appointment  of  a 
friend.  The  managers  of  the  bank  did  not  consult  him  in 
regard  to  the  provisions  of  the  new  charter  applied  for,  and 
he  had  not  succeeded  in  bringing  that  institution  under  his 
control.  Impetuous  in  all  things,  defying  all  things,  whether 


382  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

of  gods  or  men,  this  was  an  opposition  to  his  imperial  will 
by  no  means  to  be  endured.  He  commenced,  forthwith,  a 
war  of  words  and  measures  against  that  ill-starred  corpora- 
tion, in  which  he  was  backed  by  all  the  powers  of  the  gov- 
ernment, and  aided  by  all  the  art  of  his  shrewd  advisers. 
They  first  -  destroyed  the  business  of  the  bank,  and  threw 
discredit  and  suspicion  upon  its  solvency,  never  before 
suspected.  Then,  by  crippling  the  resources  and  business 
interests  of  the  country,  they  weakened  its  securities  and 
impeded  the  collection  of  its  vast  and  extended  claims,  till, 
by  a  series  of  calamities  and  governmental  hostilities  beat- 
ing upon  it,  the  great  fiscal  institution  of  the  country  fell, 
and  great  was  the  fall  thereof.  In  its  ruins  were  crushed 
the  fortunes  of  hundreds  of  innocent  men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren, of  widows  and  orphans,  whose  entire  means  of  sub- 
sistence were  embarked  in  its  immense  capital.  It  had  been 
chartered  by  President  Madison,  a  good  man  and  pure 
patriot;  and  it  had  been  sustained  by  nearly  all  the  Repub- 
licans of  the  day.  It  should  be  remembered  that  General 
Jackson  himself  did  not  then  profess  to  be  opposed  in  prin- 
ciple to  a  bank,  but  to  the  bank ;  for  he  expressly  declared 
that  if  application  had  been  made  to  him,  he  could  have  given 
Congress  a  plan  for  a  National  Bank  which  would  have  ac- 
complished the  desired  end ;  and  it  would  probably  have 
contained  a  clause  empowering  the  President  to  appoint  all 
the  managers  and  their  subordinates.  It  was  reserved  to 
the  "Democracy"  of  a  later  day  to  reach  that  sublimation 
of  political  wisdom  which  perceived  certain  ruin  in  a  fiscal 
charter,  Federalism  in  a  paper  dollar,  and  rank  treason  in  an 
innocent  bill  of  exchange.  General  Jackson  was  thought  to 


HISTORY  OF  POLITICAL  PARTIES.  383 

be  something  of  a  Democrat  in  his  day,  but  he  had  not  at- 
tained this  degre'e  of  acute  discrimination.  He  was  strongly 
in  favor  of  the  State  banks ;  fostered  them  by  all  the  ap- 
pliances in  his  power ;  induced  the  creation  of  scores,  in 
place  of  one ;  and  left  the  currency  of  the  country  in  a  con- 
dition of  hopeless  depreciation. 

The  destruction  of  the  United  States  bank  was  really 
the  principal  measure  of  the  Jackson  administration.  We 
may  look  in  vain  for  any  important  principle  settled  by  it, 
or  any  new  theory  brought  forward,  except  in  regard  to  the 
currency.  In  the  management  of  our  foreign  interests,  the 
honor  of  the  country  was  protected,  and  our  relations  were 
generally  maintained  with  dignity  and  caution.  There  was 
one  notable  instance  of  impropriety.  We  refer  to  the  un- 
warrantable and  uncalled-for  introduction  of  our  internal  po- 
litical divisions  into  his  official  correspondence  with  Great 
Britain  by  Mr.  Van  Buren,  the  Secretary  of  State.  This 
was  a  proceeding  without  precedent,  in  every  point  of  view 
indefensible,  and  a  disgrace  to  its  author.  Whatever  may  be 
our  internal  dissensions,  towards  all  other  nations  the  Amer- 
ican people  should  present  an  undivided  front.  National 
dignity  and  self-respect  require  the  strict  observance  of  this 
rule ;  the  honor  of  the  people  demands  it.  With  all  his  ob- 
stinacy and  independence,  General  Jackson  was  easily  con- 
trolled by  a  few  designing  men  who  had  their  own  sinister 
ends  in  view.  Van  Buren,  with  his  usual  fallacy,  had  gained 
a  commanding  influence  over  the  President,  whose  ungov- 
ernable passions  were  played  upon  in  such  a  way  that,  while 
he  thought  himself  the  noblest  Roman  of  them  all,  he 
became  the  mere  tool  of  one  of  the  subtlest  of  dema- 


384  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

gogues ;  and  it  was  soon  apparent  that  a  suggestion  from 
that  plausible  gentleman  was  sufficient  to  gain  for  any  new 
design  a  ready  adoption  by  the  supreme  dictator.  How 
skillfully  that  influence  was  exerted  has  now  become  matter 
of  history.  The  little  magician  called  spirits  from  the  vasty 
deep  that  under  better  influences  would  have  never  seen  the 
light.  In  the  ranks  of  his  own  party,  Van  Buren  had  many 
enemies  of  no  mean  character  and  standing.  They  were  all 
driven  from  executive  favor  with  as  much  seeming  zeal  and 
alacrity  as  would  have  been  exercised  had  they  been  open 
enemies  of  the  republic.  As  no  situation  in  life,  no  high 
degree  of  ability  and  attainment,  is  absolute  proof  against 
intrigue  and  cunning  machination,  Van  Buren  was  soon  left 
without  a  rival,  either  in  the  cabinet  or  in  the  ranks  of  the 
party.  Calhoun  was  distanced  in  the  race,  and  finally 
driven  over  to  the  opposition  with  great  show  of  indignation 
and  obloquy.  One  cabinet  was  dismissed  without  ceremony 
and  on  the  most  frivolous  pretexts,  and  another  was  over- 
awed and  forced  into  submission.  It  may  have  been  purely 
accidental,  but  it  was  a  singular  circumstance  that  in  all 
these  commotions  and  difficulties,  while  other  gentlemen  were 
discarded,  outcast,  overwhelmed,  Van  Buren  was  strengthen- 
ing his  position  and  gathering  force  to  reach  the  station  al- 
ready long  occupied  in  mind  by  his  anticipative  ambition. 

It  would  seem  that  the  last  three  years  of  General  Jack- 
son's term  was  almost  wholly  employed  in  preparing  the 
way  for  the  succession  of  the  favorite.  The  President  had 
time,  however,  to  make  fierce  war  upon  the  State  banks — 
so  long  his  favorites — which  had  sprung  up  virtually  under 
his  supervision.  But  he  never  made  any  pretension  to  con- 


HISTORY  OF  POLITICAL  PARTIES.  385 

sistency.  An  exclusively  metallic  currency  and  a  quick  re- 
turn to  the  age  of  iron  had  now  become  the  desire  of  his 
heart,  and  with  this  measure  bequeathed  to  his  successor, 
his  administration  closed.  He  had  come  into  power  upon  a 
wave  of  popularity  whose  reflux  had  buried  many  of  his 
truest  friends.  The  country  had  begun  to  groan  under  the 
weight  of  his  measures ;  but  the  power  of  his  name  and  his 
unscrupulous  use  of  executive  appliances  w,ere  still  sufficient 
to  elevate  Martin  Van  Buren  to  the  Presidency. 

The  Whig  party  at  that  time  confined  its  exertions 
principally  to  preserve  the  balance  of  power  between  the 
different  branches  of  the  government,  as  the  Constitution 
had  wisely  left  it.  The  concentration  of  all  the  powers  of 
the  government  in  the  hands  of  one  man  was  an  innovation 
too  dangerous  to  the  safety  of  our  institutions  to  be  sanc- 
tioned or  permitted.  They  also  endeavored  to  protect  the 
business  interests  of  the  country  from  the  ruin  which  it  was 
too  truthfully  predicted  would  follow  the  sudden  and  violent 
changes  recommended  by  the  executive.  They  desired  to 
see  the  resources  of  the  country  developed,  and  to  place  the 
agricultural,  mechanical,  and  manufacturing  interests  on 
such  a  basis  as  to  defy  the  competition  of  foreign  pauper 
labor  and  the  hostility  of  foreign  legislation. 

We  may  dismiss  General  Jackson  and  his  administration,, 
with  the  remark  that  when  the  President  was  left  to  his 
own  better  judgment  he  acted  honestly  and  uprightly.  But 
passion  and  deep  prejudices  intervened ;  he  was  ill-advised 
and  moved  by  insidious  arts  and  practices ;  and  we  believe 
it  not  unjust  to  say  that  no  chief  magistrate  ever  left  so 
bad  an  example  to  posterity.  The  country  owes  him  a  debt 

25 


386  THE  VOTERS1  HAND-BOOK. 

of  gratitude  for  his  services  in  the  field ;  and  for  these  he 
will  be  remembered  by  the  American  people  so  long  as  the 
broad  savannahs  of  the  South  expose  their  surface  to  the 
sun,  or  the  waters  of  the  Mississippi  roll  down  to  the  gulf. 
We  would  not  detract  in  the  smallest  degree  from  his  just 
claims  to  respect,  but  ther"e  are  points  in  his  civil  career 
which  can  not  be  passed  without  condemnation. 

The  advent  of  Mr.  Van  Buren  did  not  at  first  materially 
change  the  situation  of  parties.  He  commenced  with  a 
formal  declaration  of  principles  at  his  inauguration.  It  was 
sufficiently  void  of  meaning  to  be  wholly  unattractive  except 
as  to  one  point,  and  in  regard  to  that  he  was  peculiarly  un- 
fortunate. He  undertook  in  advance  to  veto  any  law  the 
National  Legislature  in*"  its  wisdom  might  enact  upon  a  par- 
ticular subject.  The  design  of  this  was  obvious,  and  its  im- 
propriety equally  so.  We  speak  of  this  without  the  least 
reference  to  the  merits  of  that  question,  in  itself  considered, 
and  merely  as  to  the  threat  of  the  President  in  advance  of 
legislative  action.  It  conciliated  no  interest,  and  displeased 
if  it  did  not  disgust  all  right  thinking  men.  That  one  so 
cautious  in  his  general  policy,  and  so  uniformly  careful  to 
avoid  all  probable  causes  of  discontent  as  Mr.  Van  Buren 
had  been  through  his  whole  life,  should  have  been  guilty  of 
a  positive  impropriety  in  the  first  step  of  his  executive 
career,  was  matter  of  no  little  surprise.  But  his  subse- 
quent acts  threw  this  circumstance  so  completely  into  the 
shade  that  it  was  soon  forgotten  by  the  general  public.  His 
whole  administration  exhibited  a  series  of  measures  unfor- 
tunate beyond  the  examples  ;  and  they  fell  upon  the  people 
with  crushing  weight.  These  measures  centered  upon  one 


HISTORY  OF  POLITICAL  PARTIES.  387 

point — the  currency — in  regard  to  which  he  followed  out 
the  intentions  "of  his  "Illustrious  Predecessor."  But  the 
name  of  that  I.  P.  had  lost  its  charm.  The  time  had  gone 
by  when  a  bad  measure,  although  sealed  with  the  imperial 
assent,  could  be  forced  into  popularity.  It  was  discovered, 
at  last,  that  even  his  opinion  was  not  infallible  ;  that  his  arbi- 
trary dictum  was  not  sufficient  to  regulate  the  laws  of  trade 
and  the  whole  domestic  policy  of  the  country.  The  dis- 
orders of  the  time  opened  the  eyes  of  intelligent  men.  They 
beheld  in  the  vista,  not  that  golden  age  which  the  prophets 
and  seers  of  the  spick  new  Democracy  had  predicted,  nor 
that  ineffable  state  which  should  betoken  the  advent  of  a 
social  and  political  millenium ;  but,  instead,  the  confusion  of 
ruin — the  very  "  blackness  of  darkness  "  and  all  pervading 
distress. 

The  previous  action  of  the  government  had  called  into 
being  a  multitude  of  local  banks,  and  these  institutions  had 
been  made  the  depositaries  of  the  government  treasure. 
Stimulated  by  this  impulse,  with  a  superabundant  capital,  no 
power  in  existence  to  keep  them  in  check,  and  relying  upon 
the  continuance  of  government  favor,  these  banks  extended 
their  business  beyond  all  bounds  of  prudence.  Speculation 
in  every  description  of  property  had  become  universal ; 
villages  and  even  cities  had  sprung  up  in  every  nook  of  the 
remote  West,  which  needed  only  buildings,  business,  and 
people  to  render  them  discoverable  by  the  unfortunate  pur- 
chaser of  lots  ;  and  "  intrinsic  value  "  had  become  an  obso- 
lete term.  This  state  of  things  had  its  origin  partly  in 
other  causes,  but  mainly  in  the  action  of  the  government ; 
and  by  a  more  sudden  action  it  was  checked.  The  bubble 


388  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK 

burst  and  carried  with  it  not  only  the  illusory  hopes  of 
the  rash  speculation,  but  the  more  solid  basis  of  the 
prudent  and  circumspect.  Commercial  houses  that  had  stood 
firm  through  all  changes  for  half  a  century  were  crushed ; 
the  activity  of  business  throughout  the  land  was  suspended; 
confidence  and  credit  were  destroyed ;  the  banks,  which  had 
been  fostered  and  then  attacked  by  the  government,  suspended 
payment ;  State  obligations  were  neglected,  in  some  instances 
repudiated ;  and  even  the  Federal  Government  could  not 
always  meet  its  engagements.  It  was  at  this  juncture  when 
Van  Buren  disclosed  his  great  measure  and  made  it  the 
law  of  the  land.  The  panacea  which  he  recommenced  in 
this  disordered  state  of  the  body  politic  was  the  sub-treasury 
system;  and  this  was  the  principal  measure  of  his  adminis- 
tration. 

The  introduction  of  such  a  scheme  in  the  most  healthy 
and  prosperous  times  would  have  produced,  of  necessity  a 
disastrous  revulsion ;  and  it  then  added  immeasurably  to  the 
public  distress.  The  sole  pretext  for  the  measure  was  to 
protect  the  government  from  losses  through  the  banks;  the 
real  design  was  to  destroy  every  moneyed  corporation  in  the 
land.  It  is  a  sufficient  commentary  to  state  that  the  govern- 
ment lost  four  times  as  much,  in  the  space  of  three  years, 
by  the  faithlessness  and  rascality  of  its  sub-treasurers,  as  it 
had  ever  lost  by  all  the  banks  since  the  adoption  of  the 
Constitution.  The  fallacy  of  the  system  was  promptly 
shown.  Peculation  and  corruption  became  at  once  the  order 
of  the  day;  nor  was  it  long  before  the  officer  who  had  only 
abstracted  his  hundred  thousand  was  looked  upon  as  a  toler- 
able pattern  of  sub-treasury  trustworthiness.  It  is  fitting  to 


HISTORY  OF  POLITICAL  PARTIES.  389 

remark  that,  in  1834,  this  same  sub-treasury  scheme  was  de- 
nounced by  the"  whole  Van  Buren  party  as  a  measure  unquali- 
fiedly infamous;  in  1837  he  was  equally  denounced  who  was 
not  in  its  favor — so  much  had  the  fresh  Democracy  become 
"enlightened"  in  the  interval. 

Mr.  Van  Buren  very  justly  regarded  himself  as  the 
founder  of  "the  party,"  and,  in  a  large  measure,  its  owner. 
It  was  certainly  his  by  right  of  discovery;  and  now  the 
time  has  rolled  around  when  he  regards  his  re-election  of 
greater  moment  than  the  welfare  of  the  States.  This,  how- 
ever, was  not  to  be.  Public  dissatisfaction  was  expressed  in 
all  forms,  in  every  section  of  the  country,  and  even  "the 
party"  was  divided  and  rent.  Partisan  trammels  could  no 
longer  prevent  an  honest  expression,  and  thousands  left  the 
ranks  of  the  "  Democracy "  and  denounced  the  measures 
which  had  brought  down  destruction  upon  their  heads.  But 
the  President  still  believed  in  the  efficacy  of  party  discip- 
line. Possibly  he  thought,  that  as  General  Jackson — in 
whose  footsteps  he  declared  it  was  his  highest  ambition  to 
follow — had  succeeded  in  bold  measures  and  radical  innova- 
tions, he,  too,  might  gain  some  laurels  by  a  similar  course. 
But  events  were  otherwise  ordered.  The  policy  he  had 
pursued  left  him  no  power  except  that  which  was  inherent 
in  the  office  he  held.  When  the  day  of  trial  came,  his  ap- 
peal to  the  "  sober  second  thought  of  the  people  "  was  an- 
swered by  shouts  of  triumph  and  songs  of  rejoicing  at  the 
election  of  General  Harrison. 

We  have  presented  the  few  prominent  points  which  dis- 
tinguished the  administrations  of  Jackson  and  Van  Buren, 
for  the  purpose  of  showing  when  and  in  what  the  Demo- 


390  THE  VOTERS1  HAND-BOOK. 

cratic  party,  so-called,  had  its  origin,  and  the  great  prece- 
dents which  authorize  it  to  believe  in  one  line  of  policy 
to-day,  in  another  to-morrow,  and,  if  it  feels  so  disposed,  in 
nothing  but  "the  party"  next  day.  Every  thing  has  a 
character  of  some  sort,  but  it  is  not  always  easy  to  discover. 
The  trouble  with  the  Democracy  is,  that  a  mere  name,  and 
falsely  assumed,  has  been  made  a  convenient,  external,  uni- 
versal habit  for  "  the  party,"  covering  all  sorts  of  form  aud 
feature,  or  their  total  lack,  as  may  be  most  acceptable  for 
the  occasion.  There  is  no  general  character  belonging  to 
the  organization  throughout  the  country,  expressed  in  a  dec- 
laration of  principles.  It  is  everywhere  traversed  and 
broken  asunder  by  sectional  doctrines,  or  questions  of  policy 
wholly  discordant.  But  all  the  members  are  "Democrats," 
and  their  explanation  of  the  happy  term — if  they  are  able 
to  give  any  explanation — is  ever  according  to  the  locality 
in  which  they  happen  to  be  at  the  time. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  mention  the  administration 
of  John  Tyler,  unless  to  give  a  record  of  folly  in  all  its 
phases;  of  treachery,  perfidy,  and  imbecility  unparalleled  in 
history;  of  the  dishonorable  use  of  the  highest  power,  and 
the  wanton  waste  of  the  greatest  opportunities.  He  had  no 
party,  no  support,  -no  principles,  and  none  of  the  popular 
respect  which  the  incumbent  of  the  most  eminent  elective 
office  in  the  world  should  elicit;  and  he  was  indeed  very 
much  like  that  man  without  a  country  who  roamed  aimless 
through  the  earth  as  a  just  penance  for  treason  to  his  gov- 
ernment. All  there  was  of  the  Tyler  faction  is  summed  up 
in  the  most  insignificant  numeral,  and  was  composed  of 
the  most  insignificant  figure  that  ever  appeared  in  politics. 


HISTORY  OF  POLITICAL  PARTIES.  391 

In  1844  the  Whig  party  declared  for  a  well-regulated 
currency ;  a  tariff  for  revenue  to  defray  the  necessary  ex- 
penses of  the  government,  and  discriminating  with  special 
reference  to  the  protection  of  the  domestic  labor  of  the 
country ;  distribution  of  the  proceeds  of  the  sales  of  public 
lands  among  the  States ;  reform  of  executive  usurpations ; 
and  generally  such  an  administration  of  the  affairs  of  the 
country  as  should  impart  to  every  branch  of  the  public  ser- 
vice the  greatest  practicable  efficiency,  controlled  by  a  well- 
regulated  and  nice  economy.  In  the  same  year  the  Democ- 
racy favored  State  rights  ;  opposed  internal  improvements ; 
opposed  a  protective  tariff;  opposed  a  national  bank;  fa- 
vored slavery,  and  denounced  all  abolitionists ;  favored  the  Van 
Buren  sub-treasury  system ;  favored  taking  by  force,  if  need 
be,  the  whole  of  Oregon,  and  the  re-annexation  of  Texas. 
In  1848  the  Whigs  declared  against  any  extension  of  slave 
territory ;  against  acquisition  of  foreign  territory  by  con- 
quest ;  in  favor  of  protection  to  home  industry,  and  the  cir- 
cumscription of  executive  power.  In  the  same  year  the 
Democrats  re-affirmed  previous  platforms  (1840-44)  and 
adopted  fresh  resolutions  condemning  "federalism" — which 
is  not  defined — a  national  bank,  and  the  agitation  of  the 
slavery  question ;  favoring  "  economy,"  the  war  with 
Mexico,  and  the  administration  of  President  Polk.  There 
was  little  change  in  either  the  Whig  or  Democratic  plat- 
form at  the  conventions  of  1852,  but  in  1856  the  Whigs 
made  a  strong  protest  against  the  agitation  of  the  slavery 
question,  and  passed  a  special  resolution  condemning  the  Re- 
publican party ;  and  the  Democrats  adopted  what  has  ever 
since  been  known  as  "the  Cincinnati  Platform." 


392  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

The  Republican  National  Convention  in  1856  resolved 
against  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  and  the  ex- 
tension of  slavery  into  free  territory ;  in  favor  of  admitting 
Kansas  as  a  free  State,  and  of  restoring  the  action  of  the 
Federal  Government  to  the  principles  of  Washington  and  Jef- 
ferson. They  also  favored  the  Pacific  railway,  and  the  im- 
provement of  rivers  and  harbors.  It  was  an  admirable  plat- 
form; but  it  was  left  for  the  Republican  resolutions  of  1860 
to  make  a  clean  sweep  of  the  Whig  and  "American"  parties, 
and  either  attach  their  members  to  the  Republican  organi- 
zation, or  drive  them  into  the  ranks  of  the  Democracy. 
They  protest  against  the  admission  of  any  but  free  States 
into  the  Union;  against  the  dogma  that  the  Constitution,  of 
its  own  force,  carries  slavery  into  any  or  all  the  territories; 
against  re-opening  the  African  slave  trade;  in  favor  of  pro- 
tection to  American  industry,  and  internal  improvement 
upon  a  liberal  scale.  The  Democratic  party  held  its 
national  convention  for  1860  in  series — the  first  at  Charles- 
ton, South  Carolina,  on  23d  April;  the  second  at  Richmond, 
Virginia,  llth  June;  the  third  at  Baltimore,  Maryland,  18th 
June.  The  second,  which  was  made  up  of  Southern  seceders 
from  the  first,  anxiously  awaited  the  action  of  the  third, 
arid  upon  the  nomination  of  Douglas,  at  Baltimore,  nominated 
Breckenridge  and  Lane,  adopted  a  strong  pro-slavery  plat- 
form, and  adjourned.  The  first  plank  in  the  platform  was 
the  re-affirmation  of  the  Cincinnati  resolutions. 

James  Buchanan,  an  intimidated  old  man,  had  been 
placed  in  the  Presidential  chair  at  the  election  of  1856,  to 
do  the  bidding  of  the  slave  oligarchy,  and  was  only  Presi- 
dent in  name,  while  Toombs,  Davis,  Wigfall,  Mason,  Floyd, 


HISTORY  OF  POLITICAL  PARTIES.  393 

Benjamin,  etc.,  performed  all  the  functions  of  the  Presi- 
dential office  which  they  deemed  important,  and  conspired 
against  the  government  at  the  same  time.  Buchanan's  ad- 
ministration was  only  an  intense  illustration  of  the  subser- 
viency of  Northern  doughfaces  to  the  slave  power,  whose  in- 
cursions upon  our  political  life  had  from  year  to  year  grown 
more  exacting,  until  the  demand  had  now  come  to  legalize 
the  African  slave  traffic  by  the  laws  of  the  United  States, 
or  accept  the  alternative  of  disunion!  Senators  of  the 
United  States,  heads  of  departments,  Representatives  in 
Congress,  officers  of  the  army,  and  other  agents  of  the  gov- 
ernment were  in  this  conspiracy.  D.  L.  Yulee,  Senator 
from  Florida,  wrote  to  a  traitorous  convention  at  Talla- 
hassee, under  date  of  Washington,  January  7,  1861,  as 
follows : 

.  .  .  "It  seemed  to  be  the  opinion,  if  we  left  here, 
force,  loan,  and  volunteer  bills  might  be  passed,  which  would 
put  Mr.  Lincoln  in  immediate  condition  for  hostilities ; 
whereas,  by  remaining  in  our  places  till  4th  of  March,  it  is 
thought  we  can  keep  Mr.  Buchanans  hands  tied,  and  disable 
the  Republicans  from  effecting  any  legislation  which  will 
strengthen  the  hands  of  the  incoming  administration." 

So  it  seems  that  in  January,  1861,  through  the  com- 
plaisance of  a  Democratic  administration,  the  government 
was  already  controlled  by  the  Secessionists.  It  was  no  part 
of  their  original  plan  to  divide  the  country  into  two  separate 
nationalities,  but  to  change  the  government  over  the  whole 
of  it;  a  revolution,  not  a  secession,  although  "disunion" 
was  the  convenient  threat.  Viewed  in  this  light,  it  was  a 
cunning  and  well-devised  plot;  and  it  came  very  near  a 


394  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

temporary  success.  Viewed  in  any  other  light,  the  attempt 
was  little  short  of  insanity.  Leaders  in  the  rebellion  were 
well  aware  that  the  Constitution  could  not  be  changed  as 
they  desired  by  peaceable  means.  They  therefore  deter- 
mined to  accomplish  it  by  revolution.  The  commissioner 
from  Mississippi  to  Maryland,  when  urging  that  State  to 
join  the  rebellion,  stated,  in  a  speech  to  citizens  of  Balti- 
more, 19th  December,  1860  :  "  Secession  is  not  intended  to 
break  up  the  present  government,  but  to  perpetuate  it.  We 
do  not  propose  to  go  out  by  way  of  breaking  up  or  destroy- 
ing the  Union,  as  our  fathers  gave  it  to  us,  but  we  go  out 
for  the  purpose  of  getting  further  guaranties  and  security 
for  our  rights.  Our  plan  is  for  the  Southern  States  to 
withdraw  from  the  Union  at  present,  to  allow  amendments 
to  the  Constitution  to  be  made,  guaranteeing  our  just  rights. 
This  question  of  slavery  must  be  settled,  now  or  never. 
The  country  has  been  agitated  seriously  by  it  for  the  past 
twenty  or  thirty  years.  It  has  been  a  festering  sore  upon 
the  body  politic.  Many  remedies  have  failed,  and  we  must 
try  amputation  to  bring  it  to  a  healthy  state."  Amputation 
was  certainly  found  effective,  but  it  was  not  the  sort  con- 
templated by  the  gentleman. 

It  is  no  part  of  our  intention  or  desire  to  excite  sectional 
animosity  by  any  thing  contained  in  this  chapter;  but  it 
seems  to  us  that  the  logical  result  of  the  administrations  of 
Jackson  and  Van  Buren — by  and  through  which  the  so- 
called  Democratic  party  was  founded — came  to  the  surface 
in  Buchanan's  subserviency  to  the  South  and  the  following 
rebellion  by  the  slave  power.  The  cardinal  principles  of 
the  Jackson- Van  Buren  party  were  indeed  but  two — iron- 


HISTORY  OF  POLITICAL  PARTIES.  395 

clad  support  of  "  the  regular  nominations,"  and  "  to  the  vic- 
tors belong  the  spoils  of  office."  All  measures  of  a  positive 
kind,  having  in  view  the  substantial  interests  of  the  country, 
were  studiously  avoided ;  because,  upon  such  grounds,  it  was 
seen  that  the  harmony  of  the  heterogeneous  elements  of  "  the 
party  "  would  be  constantly  endangered.  There  is  something 
in  positive  measures  which  requires  discussion ;  discussion 
produces  thought;  thought  leads  to  inquiry.  Hence,  the 
Democracy  must  not  think.  Hence,  the  conduct  of  this 
faction,  while  it  boasts  so  much  of  principle,  and  censures 
its  opponents  because,  like  independent  men,  they  sometimes 
differ  among  themselves,  has  been  ever  negative  and  de- 
structive. It  opposes  protection  to  home  industry ;  but, 
lacking  the  courage  of  its  convictions,  dares  not  declare  for 
free  trade.  In  the  days  of  Jackson  it  destroyed  the  national 
currency,  and  put  "  wild-cat "  paper  in  its  place ;  and  in  the 
early  days  of  the  war  it  attempted  to  discredit  the  green- 
back, without  any  thing  to  offer  in  its  place,  unless  it 
was  contemplated  to  substitute  the  plentiful  "  promises " 
of  the  Southern  Confederacy.  It  denies  to  the  central  gov- 
ernment all  legitimate  and  healthy  powers ;  but  whenever  it 
had  the  authority,  it  enormously  increased  the  corrupt  pa- 
tronage of  the  government,  thus  tending  ever  to  make  it 
strong  for  evil  and  impotent  for  good.  It  has  always  looked 
with  an  evil  eye  upon  the  national  judiciary,  because  its 
leaders  have  instinct  enough,  if  not  intelligence,  to  discern 
that  there  can  be  no  friendship  between  itself  and  the  spirit 
of  constitutional  law.  At  the  same  time,  it  professes  that 
reverence  for  the  Constitution  is  the  prime  article  of  its 
creed.  It  seeks  to  set  the  farmer  against  the  manufacturer, 


396  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

and  the  merchant  against  both.  By  its  stupid  cry  of 
"aristocracy"  it  has  sought  to  engender  the  most  unnatural 
war  between  those  natural  allies,  the  rich  and  the  poor.  It 
pretends  to  be  progressive,  but  opposes  wholesome  schemes 
of  internal  improvement ;  and,  while  professing  a  quality  and 
degree  of  patriotism  superior  to  that  entertained  by  any 
other  party,  in  either  ancient  or  modern  history,  it  forms  an 
intimate  coalition  with  those  recently  in  arms  against  the 
government,  and  stakes  all  its  hopes  for  success  upon  "  a 
solid  South." 

This  wonderful  modern  Democracy  ought  to  be  able  to 
display  itself  in  the  light  of  truth.  It  is  not  a  form  of 
Democracy  that  Jefferson  knew  any  thing  about;  with 
which  the  Clintons,  the  Madisons,  the  Crawfords,  the  Mon- 
roes, of  former  days,  could  have  held  communion.  It  is  the 
Democracy  of  prostration,  of  repudiation,  of  nullification,  of 
State  bankruptcies,  of  squatter  sovereignty,  of  anti-nation- 
ality, of  secession,  of  draft  riots,  of  hard  money,  «f  an  irre- 
deemable paper  currency,  of  complicated  and  circumbendibus 
negatives.  It  delights  in  the  dregs  of  all  that  was  really 
objectionable  in  old  Federalism,  and  execrates  the  memory  of 
Alexander  Hamilton,  because  he  was  educated  beyond  the 
ordinary  rudiments  of  knowledge.  When  Frances  Wright 
came  upon  her  self-appointed  mission  to  this  country,  "  the 
party "  discovered  something  in  the  ideas  she  advocated 
which  it  could  heartily  support,  and  therefore  it  hoisted  the 
bespattered  banner  of  free  love,  and  found  itself  with  one 
positive  plank  to  offset  a  hundred  negatives.  Then  the 
wildest  notions  respecting  community  of  property  and  mar- 
riage, hostility  to  religion  and  to  the  bloated  monopolies  of 


HISTORY  OF  POLITICAL  PARTIES.  397 

academies  and  colleges,  took  possession  of  the  young  Democ- 
racy and  incited  it  to  run  riot  over  the  ruins  of  churches, 
schools,  and  the  established  institutions  of  society.  And  in 
all  this  time,  what  had  become  of  Mr.  Van  Buren  ? 

By  gradual  progression,  he  had  gone  through  all  the 
several  metamorphoses  of  Democrat  to  "  barnburner,"  "  barn- 
burner" to  free-soiler,  free-soiler  to  abolitionist;  and,  in  the 
very  irony  of  fate,  had  thus  finally  become  that  thing  which 
his  party  was  born  specially  to  extinguish !  His  ambition 
was  still  unquenched ;  but  as  he  had  always  followed  those 
schemes  which  seemed  to  promise  a  realization  of  his  hopes, 
without  regard  to  even  an  appearance  of  consistency,  he  evi- 
dently thought  he  saw  in  abolitionism  a  sentiment  which  would 
grow  rapidly  and  eventually  reseat  him  in  the  curule  chair. 
After  his  defeat  in  1840,  which  he  doubtless  thought  would 
be  followed  by  the  utter  disruption  of  his  party,  he  was  at 
a  loss  where  to  fix  himself  in  order  to  regain  his  departed 
prestige.  This  was  most  likely  the  only  reason  why  he  left 
the  young  Democracy.  He  felt  within  him  the  small  re- 
mains of  that  once  happy  state  induced  by  a  satisfied  ambi- 
tion, and  longed  heartily  for  a  return  of  state  and  station. 
For  his  delinquency  he  forfeited  his  just  fame,  and  now  the 
foundation  of  "  the  party  "  is  invariably  ascribed  to  Jefferson 
by  those  who  do  not  know  better  and  by  many  that  do. 

Beyond  the  certainty  that  evil  will  follow,  it  is  impossi- 
ble to  predict  what  the  American  people  have  to  anticipate 
if  modern  Democracy  shall  again  succeed  to  the  government. 
If  the  country  passes  to  the  guidance  of  such  an  organiza- 
tion, it  will  at  last  be  divided  into  factions,  each  pursuing 
its  downward  course  with  fatal  celerity,  seeking  to  crush  in ' 


398  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

its  way  all  those  institutions  and  laws  which  have  given  to 
the  American  Union  its  strength,  freedom,  and  respectability. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  war,  Senator  Bayard  was  one 
of  the  Democratic  leaders,  and  he  is  still  recognized  as 
such.  He  then  spoke  for  his  party  in  1861 : 

"Shall  we  make  war  upon  and  subjugate  this  new  con- 
federacy, or  shall  we  peacefully  treat  with  them  and  con- 
sent to  their  self-government,  trusting  to  time,  which  is  the 
great  healer  of  all  wrongs  and  passions,  to  bring  them 
again  voluntarily  into  a  common  government  with  us  ?  " 

After  drawing  a  picture  of  the  horrors  of  civil  war  he  asked : 

"  Is  such  a  war  necessary  for  the  peace  and  happiness 
of  the  United  States  ?  Why  may  not  two  American  con- 
federacies exist  side  by  side  without  conflict,  each  emulat- 
ing the  other  in  the  progress  of  civilization?  With  such  a 
sickening  alternative  as  civil  war,  why  should  not  the  ex- 
periment at  least  be  made  ?  " 

Then  Mr.  Bayard  proceeded  to  answer  the  questions 
which  he  had  asked  : 

"  I  believe  with  the  late  Senator  Douglas  that  a  '  war  is 
disunion,  certain,  final,  inevitable,'  and,  so  believing,  I  oppose 
it.  I  believe  solemnly  that  the  war  inaugurated  by  Abra- 
ham Lincoln  and  his  cabinet  is  worse  than  fruitless — that  it 
will  prove  more  disastrous  to  the  North  than  to  the  South, 
and  never  will  accomplish  its  professed  object." 

A  little  later  he  said : 

"  Human  governments  were  ordained  for  the  happiness 
and  protection  of  society.  If  peace  will  restore  and  secure 
these  blessings  to  the  people  of  the  United  States,  even 
though  a  number  of  their  former  associates  have  gone  off 


HISTORY  OF  POLITICAL  PARTIES.  399 

under  a  new  and  independent  organization,  in  the  name  of 
Heaven  let  us  raise  our  voice  for  it !"  And,  in  conclusion : 

"Let  us,  fellow-men,  follow  peace  as  our  bright  north 
star,  whose  radiance  may  be  mild,  but  never  delusive  or  un- 
certain, while  in  the  calamities  of  war,  and  that  worst  of 
wars,  a  civil  war,  we  shall  only  reach  by  sheer  exhaustion 
the  peace  we  can  now  command  in  ten  days  by  treaty." 

Mr.  Bayard  should  have  quoted  Senator  Douglas's  idea 
of  the  right  of  secession.  "  President  Buchanan,"  said  he, 
"has  recommended  that  we  purchase  Cuba.  According  to 
this  doctrine  of  secession,  we  might  pay  $300,000,000  for 
Cuba,  and  then  the  next  day  Cuba  might  secede  and  re-annex 
herself  to  Spain!"  We  paid  immense  sums  for  a  portion 
of  the  territory  the  secessionists  proposed  to  take,  and  Mr. 
Douglas's  illustrations  came  home  to  our  people  with 
peculiar  force. 

The  history  of  the  Republican  party  since  1860  is 
worthy  of  generous  contemplation.  Every  work  it  has  un- 
dertaken in  twenty -four  years  has  been  performed;  every 
promise  made  the  people  fully  redeemed.  It  has  given  its 
best  work,  its  best  blood,  and  plenteously  of  its  treasure  to 
preserve  the  integrity  of  the  Union.  What  further  recom- 
mendation does  it  need?  Is  there  in  the  world  a  nation 
that  has  so  prospered  in  all  the  elements  of  wealth  and 
greatness  as  has  the  United  States  under  Republican  ad- 
ministrations ?  And  under  what  conditions  did  a  Repub- 
lican President  take  his  seat  in  1860?  Modern  Democracy, 
under  Pierce  and  Buchanan,  had  then  ruled  the  land  for 
eight  weary  years.  Schism  and  disorder  were  rampant,  the 
principal  departments  of  the  government  were  in  the  hands 


400  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

of  its    enemies,   and  war  was   imminent.     Who,   then,   was 
responsible  for  these    conditions?      Upon   whom    does    the 
odium  of  the  war,  the  great  debt,  and   the  attempted  dis- 
memberment of  the  Union  fall  ?     It  is  no  time  to  disguise 
facts,  when  the  party  that  gave   aid  and    comfort  to   those 
who  were  aiming  a  deadly  blow  at   our   institutions,  again 
seeks  to  control  the  destinies  of  the  government  its  cowar- 
dice and  imbecility  almost  destroyed.     Is  there  an  American 
who   does   not  appreciate  the  benefits   and   blessings  of  the 
Union  ?     If  so,  he  should  be  a  member  of  "  the  party  "  to- 
ward which  the  principal  criticism  of  this  sketch  is  aimed ; 
but   let  him  cast  his  eyes   across  the  sea  and  behold   men 
fighting  with  their  fellows  for  very  crusts ;  let  him  review 
their  unpaid  labor    in  contrast   with  luxurious    indolence; 
excesses  of  wealth  and  the  direst  poverty;  pauperism  in  all 
its  disgusting  forms ;  taxes  upon  every  thing,  from  the  light 
of  heaven  to  the   furniture  of  the  grave;  and  then   let  him 
return  to  his  own  country  and  reflect  that  within  a  century 
and   under   the   Constitution  formed  by  his   fathers,  it  has 
grown  great  and  prosperous ;  its  population  increased   from 
three  millions  to  fifty-five  millions,  and  all  well  fed,  and  well 
paid,  and  equally  protected  by  the  laws.     He  will  then  no 
longer  undervalue  protection  to  home  labor,  or  the  import- 
ance of  domestic  peace  and   unity,  but  will  nerve   himself 
for  every  contest  in  which  he  can  do  service  for  the  Con- 
stitution and   the  Union.     We  believe  that  the  altar  upon 
which  the  fire  of  Republican  enthusiasm  is  kindled,  is  the 
altar  of  principle ;  that  its  flames  are  fed  with  the  pure  oil 
of  patriotism,   and    the   vestal   guardians,   liberty  and    law, 
keep  holy  watch  over  its  embers.     They  shall  never  die  ! 


THE   TARIFF. 


Shall  it  be  a  Protective  Tariff,  or  a  Tariff  for  Revenue  Only  ? 

A  QUESTION  ANSWERED  BY  HISTORY  IN  A  TONE  SO  POSITIVE 
THAT  IT  ADMITS  BUT  ONE  INTERPRETATION. 


"Let  Labor  have  its  due!  my  cot  shall  be 
From  chilling  want  and  guilty  murmurs  free. 
Let  Labor  have  its  due !  then  peace  is  mine, 
And  never,  never  shall  my  heart  repine." — BLOOMFIELD. 

UPON  the  subject  of  the  Tariff,  facts  are  in  better  demand 
than  theories,  and  reason  is  of  more  worth  than  asser- 
tion. So  long  as  we  have  history  to  refer  to,  that  is  most 
desirable.  Facts  from  the  record  can  not  be  impeached.  The 
history  of  Tariff  legislation  in  the  United  States  is  an  over- 
whelming vindication  of  what  may  be  called  the  policy  of 
Protection,  while  the  reverse  of  this  record,  the  history  of 
free  trade,  presents  some  of  the  darkest  and  most  deplor- 
able chapters  in  the  experience  of  the  Nation. 

The  first  assertion  of  the  policy  of  Protection  in  the 
United  States  occurred  in  1789.  In  March  of  that  year, 
the  first  petition  presented  to  the  First  Congress,  before 
Washington's  inauguration,  came  from  the  mechanics  and 
other  citizens  of  what  was  then  the  town  of  Baltimore, 
asking  that  Congress  by  imposing  protective  duties  upon 
foreign  manufactures,  would  make  the  country  "indepen- 

26  401 


402  THE  VOTERS1  HAND-BOOK. 

dent  in  fact  as  well  as  in  name."  The  citizens  of  New 
York,  Boston,  Philadelphia,  Charleston,  and  other  cities  pre- 
sented petitions  of  like  character,  A  bill  introduced  in  the 
House  of  Representatives  by  James  Madison  embodied  the 
views  and  wishes  of  the  petitioners.  It  was  passed,  and  on 
the  fourth  day  of  July,  1789,  it  received  the  signature  of 
Washington,  and  became  a  law.  It  was  our  first  Protective 
Tariff,  and  "  it  was  the  first  act  of  general  legislation  passed 
under  the  new  Constitution  of  the  United  States."  This 
act  settled  the  right  as  well  as  the  expediency  of  im- 
port duties. 

A  few  people  at  this  date  denounced  the  law  as  retalia- 
tory. Perhaps  it  was,  and  with  great  justice  if  it  was. 
Let  us  see  what  the  facts  were.  While  this  country  re- 
mained in  a  relation  of  colonial  dependence  upon  Great 
Britain,  it  was  a  leading  and  openly  avowed  object  of 
British  policy  to  confine  our  people,  so  far  as  possible,  to 
the  production  of  what  were  called  colonial  staples — to  the 
cutting  of  timber,  mining  ores,  raising  grain,  curing  pork, 
beef,  etc.,  for  the  markets  of  the  mother  country,  and  forc- 
ing them  to  procure  thence  their  supplies  of  all  descriptions 
of  manufacture.  Even  Lord  Chatham,  our  friend  in  the 
great  struggle  against  arbitrary  power,  declared  that  Ameri- 
cans should  not  be  permitted  to  manufacture  even  a  hob-nail ! 

Accordingly  acts  of  Parliament  were  passed  from  time 
to  time,  from  the  moment  a  disposition  to  minister  to  their 
own  wants  was  manifested  by  our  people,  to  discourage 
and  thwart  that  disposition.  So  early  as  1699,  only 
seventy-nine  years  after  the  landing  of  the  Pilgrims — years 
in  great  part  devoted  to  desperate  conflicts  with  savage 


THE  TARIFF.  403 

nature,  more  savage  men,  and  the  wily  and  powerful  civil- 
ized foeman  on  our  northern  frontier — the  jealousy  of 
England  had  been  awakened  by  the  progress  of  our  house- 
hold manufactures,  and  Parliament  enacted  that  "no  wool, 
yarn,  or  woolen  manufactures  of  their  American  plantations 
shall  be  shipped  thence,  or  even  laden  in  order  to  be  trans- 
ported, upon  any  pretense  whatever."  Not  a  great  deal  of 
British  free  trade  in  that  enactment ! 

But  they  sought  to  draw  the  line  still  tighter.  In  1719 
the  House  of  Commons  declared  that  "  the  erecting  of  manu- 
factories in  the  colonies  tends  to  lessen  their  dependence  upon 
Great  Britain."  Complaints  continued  to  be  made  to  Parlia- 
ment of  the  setting  up  of  new  trades  and  manufactures  in  the 
colonies,  to  the  detriment  of  the  trade  of  the  mother  coun- 
try. Thereupon  the  House  of  Commons,  in  1721,  directed 
the  board  of  trade  to  inquire  and  report  "with  respect  to 
laws  made,  manufactures  set  up,  or  trade  carried  on,  detri- 
mental to  the  trade,  navigation,  or  manufactures  of  Great 
Britain."  The  board  reported  in  February,  1722,  and  their 
report  gives  the  best  account  now  extant  of  the  condition 
of  our  infant  manufactures  at  that  time.  It  informs  Par- 
liament that  the  government  of  Massachusetts  Bay  had 
lately  passed  an  act  to  encourage  the  manufacture  of  paper, 
"  which  law  interferes  with  the  profit  made  by  the  British 
merchant  on  foreign  paper  sent  thither." 

The  board  also  reported  that  in  all  the  colonies  north  of 
Delaware,  and  in  Somerset  County,  Maryland,  the  people 
had  acquired  the  habit  of  making  coarse  woolen  and  linen 
fabrics  in  their  several  families,  for  family  use.  This,  it 
was  suggested,  could  not  well  be  prohibited,  as  the  people 


404  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

devoted  to  this  manufacture  that  portion  of  time  in  winter 
when  they  could  do  nothing  else.  It  was  further  stated 
that  the  higher  price  of  labor  in  the  colonies  made  the  cost 
of  producing  cloths  fifty  per  cent  greater  than  in  England, 
and  would  prevent  any  serious  rivalry  with  the  manufac- 
tures of  the  mother  country.  Still,  the  board  urged  that 
something  should  be  done  to  divert  the  attention  and  enter- 
prise of  the  colonists  from  manufactures;  otherwise  they 
might  in  time  become  formidable.  To  this  end,  they  urged 
that  new  encouragement  be  held  out  to  the  production  of 
naval  stores.  "However,"  say  the  board,  "we  find  that 
certain  trades  are  carried  on,  and  manufactures  set  up,  which 
are  detrimental  to  the  trade,  navigation,  and  manufactures 
of  Great  Britain." 

Answers  from  the  royal  governors  of  the  several  colo- 
nies to  queries  propounded  to  them  by  the  board  were  next 
requested.  They  generally  reported  that  few  or  no  manu- 
factures were  carried  on  in  their  several  jurisdictions,  and 
these  few  were  of  a  rude,  coarse  kind.  In  New  England, 
leather  was  made,  a  little  poor  iron,  and  a  considerable  ag- 
gregate of  cloths  for  domestic  use;  but  the  great  part  of 
the  clothing  of  the  people  was  imported  from  Great  Britain. 
The  hatters  of  London  complained  that  a  good  many  hats 
were  made  in  America,  especially  in  New  York.  The  board 
summed  up  the  report  as  follows : 

"  From  the  foregoing  statement  it  is  observable  that 
there  are  more  trades  carried  on  and  manufactures  set  up  in 
the  provinces  on  the  continent  oT  America,  to  the  north- 
ward of  Virginia,  prejudicial  to  the  trade  and  manufactures 
of  Great  Britain,  particularly  in  New  England,  than  in  any 


THE  TARIFF.  405 

other  of  the  British  colonies;  which  is  not  to  be  wondered 
at,  for  their  soil,  climate,  and  produce  being  pretty  nearly 
the  same  with  ours,  they  have  no  staple  commodities  of 
their  own  growth  to  exchange  for  our  manufactures,  which 
puts  them  under  great  necessity,  as  well  as  under  great 
temptation,  for  providing  for  themselves  at  home;  to  which 
may  be  added,  in  the  charter  governments  the  little  depend- 
ence they  have  on  the  mother  country,  and  consequently 
the  small  restraint  they  are  under  in  any  matters  detri- 
mental to  her  interests."  The  report  closes  by  repeating 
the  recommendation  that  measures  be  taken  to  turn  the  in- 
dustry of  the  colonies  into  new  channels  serviceable  to 
Great  Britain. 

Parliament  proceeded  to  act  upon  these  suggestions. 
That  year  (1732)  an  act  was  passed  "to  prevent  the  expor- 
tation of  hats  out  of  any  of  his  majesty's  colonies  or  plan- 
tations in  America,  and  to  restrain  the  number  of  apprentices 
taken  by  the  hat  makers  in  the  said  colonies,  and  for  the 
better  encouraging  the  making  of  hats  in  Great  Britain." 
By  this  act,  not  only  was  the  exportation  of  colonial  hats 
to  a  foreign  port  prohibited,  but  their  transportation  from 
one  British  plantation  to  another  was  prohibited,  under 
severe  penalties;  and  no  person  was  allowed  to  make  hats 
who  had  not  served  an  apprenticeship  for  seven  years;  nor 
could  any  hatter  in  the  colonies  have  more  than  two  ap- 
prentices at  any  one  time;  and  no  black  or  negro  was  per- 
mitted to  work  at  the  business  of  making  hats. 

The  interdiction  of  hats  proved  only  the  prologue  of  the 
great  drama.  The  manufacture  of  iron  soon  came  in  for  a 
share  of  the  paternal  regard  of  Parliament.  In  1750  that 


406  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

maternal  authority  permitted  pig-iron  and  bar-iron  to  be 
exported  to  England  duty  free,  but  prohibited  the  erec- 
tion of  any  mill  or  other  engine  for  slitting,  or  rolling  iron, 
or  any  plating  forge  to  work  with  a  tilt-harnmer,  or  any  fur- 
nace for  making  steel  in  the  colonies,  under  the  penalty  of 
two  hundred  pounds.  And  any  such  mill,  engine,  forge,  or 
furnace  was  declared  a  common  nuisance,  and  the  governor 
of  the  colony,  upon  the  information  of  two  witnesses  on 
oath,  was  ordered  to  cause  the  same  to  be  abated  within 
thirty  days,  or  to  forfeit  the  sum  of  five  hundred  pounds. 
Such  was  the  spirit,  such  were  the  exactions,  of  British  leg- 
islation while  our  patriot  fathers  remained  subject  to  the 
mother  country. 

The  consequences  of  this  state  of  enforced  and  abject 
dependence  upon  Great  Britain  for  the  great  mass  of  our 
fabrics  were  such  as  have  been  many  times  realized  in  the 
history  of  commerce.  Although  allowed  a  nearer  approach 
to  fair  trade  with  the  mother  country  than  she  has  ever 
vouchsafed  us  since  our  independence,  the  colonies  were 
never  able  to  sell  enough  raw  produce  to  England  to  pay 
for  the  manufactures  with  which  she  was  constantly  flooding 
them.  Our  people  had  cleared  much  land,  built  houses,  and 
provided  every  thing  essential  to  physical  comfort,  but  the 
course  of  buying  more  than  their  exports  would  pay  for 
could  not  be  evaded.  In  the  midst  of  outward  prosperity, 
the  colonies  groaned  under  an  increasing  load  of  debts, 
which  were  constantly  effecting  the  transfer  of  American 
property  to  owners  in  Great  Britain.  It  was  the  persistent 
charge  of  the  English  that  our  revolutionary  fathers  flew  to 
arms  to  evade  the  payment  of  their  mercantile  debts  and 


THE  TARIFF.  407 

the  importunities  of  their  creditors.  The  Congress  which 
assembled  in  1765  to  remonstrate  against  the  Stamp  Act, 
drew  a  graphic  though  sad  picture  of  the  calamities  which 
had  befallen  the  people ;  the  multiplication  of  debts,  the  dis- 
appearance of  money,  the  impossibility  of  payment,  the 
stagnation  of  industry  and  business,  all  through  the  exces- 
sive influx  of  foreign  fabrics. 

The  war  of  the  Revolution  corrected  this  tendency  by 
cutting  off  importations  and  largely  increasing  our  own 
household  manufactures.  But  peace,  in  the  absence  of  all 
protective  legislation  by  this  country,  revived  the  mischief 
which  had  been  trampled  beneath  the  heel  of  war.  The 
struggle  for  independence  had  left  all  the  States  embar- 
rassed, trade  completely  disordered,  and  the  whole  country 
overwhelmed  with  worthless  paper  money.  The  unchecked 
importation  of  foreign  fabrics  still  further  multiplied  and 
magnified  debts,  deprived  us  of  our  specie,  broke  down  the 
prices  of  our  products,  and  created  a  general  stagnation  and 
distress.  From  the  state  of  desperation  thus  engendered, 
arose  the  disgraceful  outbreak  of  insurrection  in  Massa- 
chusetts, known  as  "  Shay's  Rebellion."  This  was  but  one 
symptom  of  a  general  disease. 

Attempts  were  repeatedly  made  to  put  an  end  to  this 
condition  of  things  by  imposing  duties  upon  imports.  But 
the  Congress  of  the  old  Confederation  had  no  power  to  do 
this,  except  with  the  concurrence  of  each  of  the  State  gov- 
ernments. This  could  not  be  obtained.  Rhode  Island,  then 
almost  wholly  a  commercial  State,  objected,  although  the 
duty  imposed  was  but  five  per  cent,  and  the  object  the  pay- 
ment of  debts  incurred  in  the  Revolution.  Here  was  pre- 


408  THE  VOTERRS1  HAND  BOOK. 

sented  that  stringent  necessity  which  alone  could  have 
overcome  the  prevailing  jealousies  of,  and  aversion  to,  a 
stronger  and  more  National  Government.  A  convention  was 
called,  a  Constitution  framed  and  adopted,  and  the  second 
act  of  the  new  Congress  stands  upon  the  records  entitled, 
"An  act  to  make  provision  for  the  necessities  of  govern- 
ment, the  payment  of  the  national  debt,  and  the  protection 
of  American  manufactures"  It  passed  both  Houses  of  Con- 
gress by  substantially  a  unanimous  vote. 

Great  Britain  now  became  alarmed  for  the  stability  of 
her  market  in  America.  Our  people  had  been  among  her 
most  profitable  customers.  Her  board  of  trade  made  a  report 
on  the  subject,  in  1794,  urging  the  negotiation  of  a  com- 
mercial treaty  with  the  United  States,  based  upon  two  prop- 
ositions, the  first  being  that  "  the  duties  on  British  manufac- 
tures imported  into  the  United  States  shall  not  be  raised 
above  what  they  are  at  present."  The  second  proposed 
that  the  productions  of  other  nations  should  be  admitted 
into  our  ports  in  British  vessels  the  same  as  if  imported  in 
our  own.  But  the  English  government  did  not  venture  to 
press  these  propositions. 

It  was  plainly  discerned  by  the  British  economists  of 
that  day  that,  while  our  Congress  had  explicitly  asserted 
the  principle  of  protection,  and  had  intended  to  act  consist- 
ently with  that  principle,  yet  from  inexperience  and  a 
natural  hesitation  to  change  abruptly  the  direction  which 
circumstances  had  given  to  our  national  industry,  they  had 
fallen  far  short  of  this.  The  few  articles  of  manufacture 
already  produced  in  this  country,  .to  a  considerable  extent, 
were  in  general  efficiently  protected ;  but  the  greater  por- 


THE  TARIFF.  409 

tion  of  the  manufactures  essential  to  our  complete  emanci- 
pation from  colonial  dependence,  were  left  unprotected  to  the 
extent  of  five  to  fifteen  per  cent.  Years  of  hard  experience 
and  of  frequent-  suffering  were  required  to  teach  the  mass 
of  our  statesmen  the  advantage  and  benefit  of  extending 
protection  also  to  these  articles  which  had  not  been  but 
might  easily  and  profitably  be  produced  in  our  own  country, 
if  the  producers  were  properly  shielded  from  the  destruct- 
ive rivalry  always  brought  to  bear  upon-  a  new  branch  of 
industry  by  the  jealous  and  powerful  foreign  interests  which 
it  threatens  to  deprive  of  a  lucrative  market.  Our  people 
had  scarcely  begun  to  learn  the  truths  which  form  the  basis 
of  a  wise  and  beneficent  national  economy,  when  the  break- 
ing out  of  the  great  wars  in  Europe  opened  up  to  them  large 
and  lucrative  foreign  markets  for  raw  staples,  and  the  heads 
of  many  of  the  most  sedate  thinkers  in  America  were  nearly 
turned  by  the  tempting  prizes  proffered  to  mercantile  enter- 
prise by  the  convulsions  of  the  Old  World.  It  seemed  as 
though  we  had  but  to  produce  what  was  easiest  and  most 
natural  to  us,  and  Europe  would  take  it  at  our  own  price, 
and  pay  us  bountifully  for  carrying  it  where  she  directed. 

This  was  a  pleasant  dream  while  it  lasted,  but  it  was 
very  brief.  Our  people  were  awakened  from  it  by  seizures, 
confiscations,  embargoes,  and,  at  last,  war,  which  imposed 
upon  us  the  necessity  of  commencing  nearly  every  branch 
of  manufacture  under  the  most  unfavorable  auspices,  and  of 
course  at  a  ruinous  cost.  The  war  with  Great  Britain  was 
in  this  respect  a  substantial  benefit  to  the  country.  Eng- 
land had  continued  to  send  us,  up  to  the  beginning  of  this 
war,  large  supplies  of  manufactured  goods,  which  were 


410  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

thrown  upon  the  American  market  at  prices  less  than  the 
same  articles  were  sold  for  at  London  or  Liverpool,  all  the 
profit  sacrificed  to  the  object  of  repressing  and  breaking  down 
our  rising  industries.  With  the  doubling  of  duties  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  war  of  1812,  and  the  extraordinary  exigen- 
cies of  the  country,  our  home  interests  were  greatly  stimu- 
lated, and  in  the  succeeding  three  years  grew  vigorously, 
many  new  industries  springing  up.  "  The  arrival  of  peace 
found  the  country,"  says  Mr.  Greeley,  in  his  Political 
Economy,  "  dotted  with  furnaces  and  manufactories,  which 
had  suddenly  grown  up,  during  the  few  last  preceding  years, 
under  the  precarious  shelter  of  embargo  and  war.  These, 
not  yet  fairly  established  in  a  country  whose  commerce  was 
almost  entirely  external,  or  confined  to  the  seaboard,  steam 
navigation  being  yet  in  its  infancy,  and  canals  and  railroads 
unknown  among  us,  found  themselves  suddenly  exposed  to 
a  determined  and  resistless  competition  from  abroad."  To 
meet  this  condition,  the  tariff  act  of  1816,  chiefly  the  work 
of  John  C.  Calhoun,  then  a  protectionist,  and  William 
Loundes,  was  devised.  But  it  proved  wholly  inadequate, 
except  as  to  two  or  three  comparatively  unimportant  indus- 
tries. 

Great  Britain  continued  to  flood  the  American  markets 
with  the  products  of  her  manufactories,  at  prices  with  which 
our  home  manufacturers  found  it  impossible  to  compete,  and 
one  by  one,  in  rapid  succession,  American  manufacturing 
establishments  were  closed,  and  products  of  American  skill 
disappeared  from  the  markets.  All  the  devastations  of  the 
war  had  been  as  nothing  compared  with  the  devastation  and 
losses  of  manufacturing  capital  under  the  tariff  of  1816. 


THE  TARIFF.  411 

Our  manufacturers  went  down  like  grass  before  the  mower; 
our  agriculture  and  the  wages  of  labor  speedily  followed. 
In  New  England  it  is  judged  that  fully  one-fourth  the  prop- 
erty went  through  the  sheriff's  mill,  and  the  prostration  was 
scarcely  less  general  in  any  part  of  the  country.  More 
American  families  were  reduced  from  comfort  to  want  in  the 
years  1817-20,  than  in  the  succeeding  half  century.  These 
facts  illustrate  with  great  force  the  disastrous  effects  of  that 
sort  of  tariff  legislation  which  is  now  demanded  by  a  con- 
siderable faction  under  the  specious  title  of  "a  tariff  for 
revenue  only."  Under  such  a  tariff  from  1816  to  1823,  a 
few  unimportant  industries  barely  escaped  the  assaults  of 
foreign  competition,  but  these  trifling  exceptions  were  not 
sufficient  to  relieve  that  period  of  its  memorable  character 
as  the  most  disastrous  in  the  early  history  of  the  country, 
a  period  referred  to  in  1832  by  Henry  Clay  as  without  a 
parallel  since  the  formation  of  the  government  in  its  exhibi- 
tion of  "  wide-spread  dismay  and  desolation."  But  the  germ 
of  industrial  independence  had  been  planted  in  a  soil  fertil- 
ized by  blood,  and  the  plant  was  destined  to  live  and  flourish, 
though  exposed  to  rude  blasts  and  chilling  frosts  in  its 
spring-time. 

The  tariffs  of  1824-28  marked  a  period  of  seven  years 
in  striking  contrast  with  the  term  of  the  same  length  which 
had  just  preceded.  Never  were  the  comparative  merits  of 
two  antagonistic  policies  more  fully  and  decisively  illus- 
trated. The  energies  of  the  country  were  re-vitalized,  the 
spirit  of  enterprise  again  walked  abroad  in  the  land,  capital 
sought  labor  and  labor  responded  to  the  appeal,  and  in  their 
union  and  mutual  efforts  each  won  honorable  and  just  re- 


412  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

ward.  The  Nation  grew  in  wealth,  and  everywhere  the 
people  were  prosperous,  tranquil,  and  happy.  At  the  very 
height  of  this  grand  fruition  and  splendid  promise  came  the 
compromise  tariff  of  1833,  with  its  provisions  for  a  gradual 
reduction  of  duties  on  manufactures  to  a  revenue  standard. 
Business  revulsion  and  the  financial  disaster  of  1837  fol- 
lowed. Our  manufacturers  were  driven  to  the  wall  and 
many  of  them  hopelessly  bankrupted.  There  are  hundreds 
living  to-day  and  in  active  business,  who  still  vividly  remem- 
ber the  unhappy  era  from  1835  to  1842,  with  that  desolat- 
ing year  of  1837  standing  like  a  great,  black,  appalling 
chasm  in  a  wilderness  of  wreck  and  ruin.  This  compromise 
measure,  this  tariff  for  revenue  only,  bore  its  legitimate  fruit 
in  the  final  collapse  alike  of  industry  and  revenue,  and  the 
despoiled  and  suffering  country  again  turned  to  protection 
for  the  restoration  of  its  crushed  and  shattered  industries. 
It  would  seem  that  experience  and  observation  are  of 
little  use  if  we  fail  to  regulate  our  conduct  by  them.  The 
spirit  of  the  same  policy  which  the  British  government  pur- 
sued toward  this  country  while  in  its  dependent  colonial 
state,  still  enters  into  the  favorite  measures  of  that  govern- 
ment toward  the  United  States.  It  would  be  no  difficult 
matter  to  show  that  upon  every  agitation  of  the  question  of 
protection  in  Congress,  the  British  Parliament  or  its  Board 
of  Trade  has  taken  some  action  in  order  to  distract,  if  pos- 
sible, the  attention  of  our  statesmen,  and  to  induce  among 
our  people  an  opposition  to  any  measure  which  would 
establish  protection  to  industry  as  the  settled  policy  of  the 
Nation.  The  Parliament  even  carried  this  sort  of  intermed- 
dling so  far,  that  in  May,  1840 — a  time  when  the  whole 


THE  TARIFF.  413 

people  of  this  country  were  thoroughly  waking  up  to  the 
importance  of  the  home  system — they  raised  a  select  com- 
mittee in  the  House  of  Commons  to  inquire  whether  the  du- 
ties levied  by  the  British  tariff  "  are  for  protection  to  simi- 
lar articles  "  manufactured  in  that  country,  or  "  for  the  pur- 
poses of  revenue  only."  This  select  committee,  in  their  re- 
port of  August  6,  1840,  appear  to  have  lost  sight  of  the 
principal  object  apparent  upon  the  face  of  the  resolution  au- 
thorizing their  examination  and  report,  and  content  them- 
selves by  observing  that  the  English  tariff  "  often  aims  at 
incompatible  ends;"  the  duties  are  sometimes  meant  to  be 
both  productive  of  revenue  and  for  protective  objects.  But 
they  stated  that  they  had  discovered  "  a  growng  conviction 
that  the  protective  system  is  not,  on  the  whole,  beneficial  to 
the  protected  manufactures  themselves"  Upon  the  same 
hypothesis  which  enabled  them  to  arrive  at  this  conclusion, 
they  might  find  that,  upon  the  whole,  health  could  not  be 
made  beneficial  to  a  sick  man ! 

After  such  a  discovery  and  its  solemn  announcement  by 
the  select  committee  aforesaid,  it  might  reasonably  be 
imagined  that  some  steps  would  be  taken  towards  rectifying 
that  "  incompatibility "  in  the  British  policy,  and  in  aban- 
doning that  system  which  they  represent  as  having  been 
found  not  to  be  beneficial  to  their  protected  manufactures. 
But  if  we  expect  any  such  thing  from  that  quarter,  we 
reckon  without  our  host.  Mr.  Bull  is  sly — sly  as  Joey 
Bagstock.  That  report  was  grown  and  ripened  for  the 
American  market,  and  was  not  designed  for  any  real  effect  . 
upon  the  proceedings  of  the  House  of  Commons.  It  was 
intended  to  convince  the  American  Congress  and  the  Ameri- 


414  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

can  people  that  Great  Britain  was  almost  ruined  by  her  pro- 
tective system — a  system  of  ruin  which  she  adhered  to  with 
astonishing  pertinacity;  that  our  protective  tariff  would  in 
like  manner  prove  ruinous  to  us ;  and  that  our  only  salva- 
tion was  in  adopting  free  trade  at"  once ;  opening  our  ports 
to  all  British  manufactures,  and  becoming,  in  fact,  merely  a 
market  for  British  labor. 

Finding  that  their  recommendations  had  no  effect  upon 
the  measures  of  our  government,  they  ceased  to  be  careful 
of  the  principles  they  put  forth  to  the  world,  and  seeing  no 
longer  any  good  reason  for  disguise,  leading  men  in  both 
houses  of  Parliament  soon  afforded  us  a  fine  commentary 
upon  the  text  of  that  report  of  the  select  committee.  Among 
others,  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  with  the  frankness  of  his 
known  character,  stated  in  the  House  of  Peers  the  true 
policy  of  Great  Britain,  that  "  when  free  trade  was  talked 
of  as  existing  in  England,  it  was  an  absurdity.  There  was 
no  such  thing,  and  there  could  be  no  such  thing  as  free  trade 
in  that  country.  We  proceed,"  said  he,  "on  the  system  of 
protecting  our  own  manufactures  and  our  own  commerce — 
the  produce  of  our  labor  and  our  soil ;  of  protecting  them 
for  exportation  and  protecting  them  for  home  consumption; 
and  on  that  universal  system  of  protection  it  is  absurd  to 
talk  of  free  trade." 

Under  the  tariff  of  1842,  business  experienced  a  revival 
which  continued  during  four  years,  and  the  country  was 
comparatively  prosperous ;  but  scarcely  had  the  wounds  of 
.  preceding  disaster  healed  over,  when  the  act  of  1846,  re- 
ducing duties — enacted  through  the  treachery  of  Pres- 
ident Polk  and  his  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  Robert  J. 


THE  TARIFF.  415 

Walker — stepped  in  to  reverse  the  wheels  and  start  the  in- 
dustries of  the  country  upon  another  retrograde  march.  In 
1857,  under  the  administration  of  President  Buchanan,  Con- 
gress again  legislated  in  the  further  interest  of  foreign  man- 
ufacturers, and  the  prompt  response  to  this  aggravation  of 
folly  was  the  financial  crash  of  that  year,  predicted  by  the 
advocates  of  protection  as  an  inevitable  consequence  of  the 
abandonment  by  Congress  of  the  industrial  interests  it  is 
their  duty  to  nourish.  Four  years  prolific  of  evil  to  the 
material  interests  of  our  people  were  1857,  1858,  1859, 
1860.  Never  before  was  the  investment  of  capital  in  busi- 
ness less  profitable,  nor  the  wages  of  toil  more  meager. 
For  near  fourteen  years  we  have  tested  a  tariff  for  revenue 
only,  and  most  expensive  and  bitter  was  the  price  the  coun- 
try paid  for  the  experiment.  Utter  and  universal  bank- 
ruptcy, both  public  and  private,  would  have  been  our  doom 
had  we  not  returned  to  the  policy  of  protection.  In  1861 
the  Morrill  tariff  became  a  law,  and  it  was  the  beginning  of 
a  series  of  protective  enactments  which  are  still  in  force. 
The  Morrill  bill  was  reported  to  the  House  in  March,  1860, 
and  passed  that  body  in  the  following  May.  The  work  of 
improvement  began  in  anticipation  of  its  assured  final  adop- 
tion by  Congress ;  so  that  when  it  passed  the  Senate  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1861,  and  received  the  approval  of  the  President  the 
current  of  the  new  industrial  life  had  already  been  set  in 
motion.  No  man  at  this  day  will  assert  that  without  this 
^policy  the  country  could  have  sustained  its  energies  during 
the  four  years'  desperate  struggle,  1861  to  1865,  or  so, 
speedily  repaired  the  desolating  effects  of  that  contest  after 
its  close. 


416  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

We  may  rest  here  with  the  reflection  upon  the  preceding 
array  of  facts  that  it  ought  to  be  sufficient  to  convince  any 
reasonable  man  of  the  inestimable  value  of  a  protective 
tariff  to  see  the  enormous  progress  of  all  our  productive  in- 
terests under  its  operation,  and  their  rapid  decline  the  mo- 
ment it  ceases  to  operate.  Free  trade  advocates  always 
seek  to  evade  this  argument  by  attributing  our  prosperity 
to  other  causes,  but  they  only  use  the  subterfuges  of  the 
pettifogger.  They  suppose  we  forget  that  the  protective 
system  was  in  operation  in  England  for  more  than  three  hun- 
dred years,  and  it  was  mainly  to  the  success  of  that  system 
that  British  industries  were  indebted  for  the  gigantic 
strength  which  finally  enabled  them  to  endure  the  order  of 
comparative  free  trade.  The  same  system  is  now  building 
up  the  vast  internal  resources  of  Russia,  and  rendering  the 
French  Republic  impregnably  strong  by  reliance  upon  her 
own  internal  development.  What  protection  has  thus  done 
for  the  industries  of  Europe,  it  is  now  doing  for  the  indus- 
tries of  our  own  country.  The  question,  therefore,  is, 
whether  we  shall  have  a  tariff  so  governed  and  regulated  as 
to  foster,  encourage,  and  stimulate  American  production  of 
all  kinds,  or  a  tariff  so  adjusted  as  to  protect  foreign  manu- 
facturers against  the  competition  of  American  capital,  labor, 
skill,  and  enterprise? 


'"*"•-  JllL&i 


•  jf^"% 

;>T,     '    "•'•      "^ 


LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 


GEORGE    \VASHINGTON. 

GEORGE  WASHINGTON,  first  President  of  the  United 
States,  was  born  in  Westmoreland  Co.,  Va.,  Feb.  22> 
1732.  He  was  the  eldest  of  six  children  of  Augustine  and 
Mary  Washington,  wealthy  people  for  the  time,  who  traced 
the  Washingtons  from  the  early  days  of  the  Plantagenets, 
when  the  De  Wessyngtons  did  manorial  service  in  the  battle 
and  the  chase  for  the  military  bishop  of  Durham.  George 
enjoyed  slight  educational  advantages.  When  he  lost  his 
father,  in  1743,  the  good  woman  whose  name  will  always 
be  associated  with  that  of  her  distinguished  son  as  "  Mary, 
the  mother  of  Washington,"  took  charge  of  his  mental  train- 
ing, and  laid  the  solid  foundation  of  his  future  usefulness. 
All  the  school  instruction  he  received  was  complete  before 
he  arrived  at  the  age  of  sixteen. 

But  he  learned  surveying,  military  tactics,  and  other 
useful  branches  of  knowledge  of  whatever  he  essayed  in  a 
masterly  way.  He  served  for  a  short  period  as  a  midship- 
man in  the  British  navy,  and  soon  thereafter  entered  the 
military  service  of  the  Colonies. 

In  1750  rumors  of  imminent  French  and  Indian  aggres- 
sions on  the  frontier  began  to  engage  attention,  and  prepara- 
tions were  made  to  resist  the  threatened  attack.  In  1751, 

27  417 


418 


THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 


when  he  was  but  nineteen,  Washington  was  placed  in  charge 
of  a  military  district,  with  the  rank  of  major.  In  1753, 
affairs  on  the  frontier  having  become  pressing,  Governor 
Dinwiddie  selected  him  to  bear  a  message  to  the  French 
commander,  on  the  Ohio,  remonstrating  against  the  advanc- 
ing occupation 
of  the  territory. 
This  service 
was  full  of  dan- 
ger, but  it  was 
performed  with 
intrepidity  and 
address.  There- 
ply  he  brought 
from  the 
Frenchman 
confirmed  the 
growing  im- 
pressions of  the 
design  of  the 
enemy,  and  mil- 
itary prepara- 
tions were  made 

with  spirit.  A  Virginia  regiment  of  three  hundred  men  was 
raised  for  frontier  service,  and  Washington  appointed  its 
lieutenant-colonel.  Advancing  with  a  portion  of  the  com- 
mand, he  found  that  the  French  were  in  the  field,  and  that 
hostilities  had  actually  begun.  Watchful  of  their  move- 
ments, he  fell  in  with  a  detachment  under  Jumonville,  which 
he  put  to  flight,  with  the  death  of  their  leader.  His  supe- 


GEORGE    WASHINGTON. 


LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS.  419 

rior  officer  having  died  on  the  march,  the  entire  command 
now  fell  upon  Washington,  who  was  soon  joined  by  addi- 
tional troops  from  South  Carolina  and  New  York.  With 
these  he  was  on  his  way  to  attack  Fort  Du  Quesne,  when  word 
was  brought  of  a  very  superior  force  of  French  and  Indians 
coming  against  him.  This  led  him,  in  his  unprepared  con- 
dition, to  retrace  his  steps  to  Fort  Necessity,  at  the  Great 
Meadows,  where  he  received  the  attack.  The  fort  was  gal- 
lantly defended,  both  within  and  without,  Washington  com- 
manding in  front,  and  it  was  not  until  serious  loss  had  been 
inflicted  upon  the  assailants  that  it  surrendered  to  superior 
numbers.  In  the  capitulation,  the  garrison  was  allowed  to 
return  home  with  the  honors  of  war. 

We  next  find  him  upon  the  staff  of  General  Braddock, 
who,  in  1755,  marched  from  Virginia  against  Fort  Du  Quesne 
with  a  force  of  royal  troops  and  provincials.  This  army  ad- 
vanced without  regard  to  the  danger  to  be  apprehended 
from  the  savages,  and  although  Washington  warned  the  gen- 
eral of  the  necessity  for  watchfulness,  it  did  no  good. 
When  they  were  within  ten  miles  of  the  fort,  on  the  9th  of 
July,  they  were  ambushed  by  the  French  and  Indians,  and 
routed  with  terrible  slaughter.  Braddock  was  mortally 
wounded,  and  died  a  few  days  later.  In  1758  another  ex- 
pedition was  planned  to  capture  Fort  Du  Quesne,  and  this 
time  it  was  successful.  Washington  with  his  Virginians 
traversed  the  ground  whitened  by  the  bones  of  his  former 
comrades  in  Braddock's  disastrous  march,  and  with  his  entry 
of  the  fort  closed  the  French  dominion  on  the  Ohio. 

In  January,  1759,  Washington  married  Mrs.  Martha 
Custis,  of  the  White  House,  county  of  New  Kent.  This 


420  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

lady,  born  in  the  same  year  with  himself,  and  in  the  full 
bloom  of  youthful  womanhood  at  twenty-seven,  was  the 
widow  of  a  wealthy  landed  proprietor,  whose  death  had  oc- 
curred three  years  before.  Her  maiden  name  was  Dandridge ; 
she  was  of  Welsh  descent ;  %  and  the  prudence  and  gravity 
of  her  disposition  eminently  fitted  her  to  be  the  wife  of 
Washington.  She  was  her  husband's  executrix,  and  man- 
aged the  estates  he  left,  involving  the  raising  of  crops  and 
their  sale  in  Europe,  with  ability.  Her  personal  charms 
are  greatly  praised.  The  well-known  portrait,  by  Woolaston, 
painted  at  this  period,  presents  a  neat,  animated  figure,  with 
regular  features,  dark,  chestnut  hair,  and  hazel  eyes,  in  a 
dress,  which,  the  style  having  changed  frequently  in  the  in- 
terval, the  whirligig  of  fashion  restored  a  few  years  ago, 
and  it  is  even  now,  1884,  considerably  worn.  The  wedding 
was  attended  with  great  eclat,  at  the  bride's  estate  at  (he 
White  House,  and  the  honeymoon  was  the  inauguration  of  a 
new  and  pacific  era  of  Washington's  hitherto  troubled  mili- 
tary life. 

But  his  state  of  repose  proved  the  introduction  to  new 
public  duties.  He  was  elected  a  member  of  the  House  of 
Burgesses,  and  took  his  seat  shortly  after  his  marriage. 
Upon  this  occasion  an  incident  occurred  which  has  been  fre- 
quently narrated.  The  Speaker,  having  been  directed  by  a 
vote  of  the  House  to  return  thanks  to  him  for  his  eminent 
military  services,  at  once  performed  the  duty  with  warmth 
and  eloquence.  Washington  rose  to  reply,  but  became  too 
embarrassed  to  utter  a  syllable.  "  Sit  down,  Mr.  Wash- 
ington," was  the  courteous  expression  of  the  gentleman 
who  had  addressed  him;  "your  modesty  equals  your 


LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS.  421 

valor,    and   that   surpasses    the   power    of  any    language   I 
possess." 

He  continued  a  member  of  this  House,  diligently  attend- 
ing to  its  business  till  he  was  called  to  the  work  of  the 
Revolution,  in  this  way  adding  familiarity  with  the  practi- 
cal duties  of  a  legislator  and  statesman  to  his  experiences  in 
war.  He  was  constantly  present  at  the  debates,  it  having 
been  a  maxim  with  him  through  life,  as  his  biographer,  Mr. 
Sparks,  observes,  "to  execute  punctually  and  thoroughly 
every  charge  which  he  undertook." 

Incidentally,  some  of  the  seeds  of  the  Revolution  were 
sown  in  the  contest  with  France.  There  and  then  America 
became  acquainted  with  her  own  powers,  and  learned  to  esti- 
mate the  strength  and  weakness  of  British  soldiers  and 
placemen.  To  no  one  had  the  lesson  been  more  thoroughly 
taught  than  to  Washington.  By  no  one  was  it  studied 
with  more  attention.  There  was  no  faction  in  his  opposition. 
The  traditions  of  his  family,  his  friends,  the  provinces,  were 
all  in  favor  of  allegiance  to  the  British  Government.  He 
had  nothing  in  his  composition  of  a  disorganizing  character, 
nothing  in  common  with  the  mere  political  agitator,  the 
breeder  of  discontent.  The  interests  of  his  large  landed  es- 
tates, and  a  revenue  dependent  upon  exports,  bound  him  to 
the  British  nation.  But  there  was  one  principle  in  his 
nature  stronger  in  its  influence  than  all  these  material  ties — 
love  of  justice ;  and  when  Patrick  Henry  rose  in  the  House 
of  Burgesses  with  his  eloquent  assertion  of  the  rights  of  the 
colony  in  the  matter  of  taxation,  Washington  was  there,  and 
heartily  responded  to  the  sentiment. 

To  this  memorable   occasion,  May  29,  1765,   has  been 


422  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

referred  the  birth  of  that  patriotic  fervor  in  the  mind  of 
Washington,  welcoming  as  it  was  developed  a  new  order  of 
things,  which  never  rested  till  the  liberties  of  the  country 
were  established  upon  the  firm  foundations  of  independence 
and  civil  order.  From  the  beginning,  he  was  an  earnest 
supporter  of  the  constitutional  liberties  of  the  country,  and 
met  every  fresh  aggression  of  Parliament  as  it  arose  in  the 
most  resolute  manner.  He  took  part  in  the  local  Virginia 
resolutions,  and  on  the  meeting  of  the  first  Congress  in  Phila- 
delphia went  up  to  that  honored  body  with  Patrick  Henry 
and  Edmund  Pendleton. 

The  second  Continental  Congress,  of  which  Washington 
was  also  a  member,  met  at  Philadelphia  in  May,  1775,  its 
members  gathering  to  deliberate  with  the  musketry  at  Lex- 
ington ringing  in  their  ears.  The  overtures  of  war  by  the 
British  troops  in  Massachusetts  had  gathered  a  little  provin- 
cial army  about  Boston.  National  organization  was  a  measure 
no  longer  of  choice,  but  of  necessity.  A  commander-in- 
chief  was  to  be  appointed ;  and  though  the  selection  was  not 
altogether  free  from  local  jealousies,  the  superior  merit  of 
Washington  was  seconded  by  the  patriotism  of  Congress,  and 
on  June  15th  he  was  unanimously  elected  to  the  high  position. 
His  modesty  in  accepting  the  office  was  as  noticeable  as  his 
fitness  for  it.  He  was  not  the  man  to  flinch  from  any  duty 
because  of  the  hazard;  but  it  is  worth  knowing,  that  we 
may  form  a  due  estimate  of  his  character,  that  he  felt  to 
the  quick  the  full  force  of  the  sacrifices  of  ease  and  happi- 
ness he  was  making,  and  the  new  difficulties  he  was  inevitably 
to  encounter.  He  was  so  impressed  with  the  probabilities 
of  failure,  and  so  little  disposed  to  vaunt  his  own  powers, 


LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS.  423 

that  he  begged  gentlemen  of  the  House  to  remember,  "  lest 
some  unlucky  event  should  happen  unfavorable  to  his  repu- 
tation," that  he  thought  himself,  with  the  utmost  sincerity, 
unequal  to  the  command  he  was  honored  with.  He  declared 
his  intention,  with  a  manly  spirit  of  patriotic  independence 
worthy  the  highest  eulogy,  to  keep  an  exact  account  of  his 
public  expenses,  accept  nothing  more  for  his  services — a 
resolution  which  was  faithfully  kept. 

He  took  command  of  the  army  at  Cambridge  on  the 
third  of  July.  Bunker  Hill  had  been  fought,  establishing 
the  valor  of  the  native  militia,  and  the-  investment  of  Boston 
was  already  begun,  though  with  inadequate  forces.  There 
was  excellent  individual  material  in  the  men,  but  every  thing 
was  yet  to  be  done  for  their  organization  and  equipment. 
Above  all,  there  was  absolute  want  of  gunpowder.  It  was 
impossible  to  make  any  serious  attempt  upon  the  British, 
but  the  utmost  heroism  was  shown  in  cutting  oif  their  resour- 
ces and  hemming  them  in.  Humble  as  were  these  inefficient 
means  in  the  present,  the  prospect  of  the  future  was  darkened 
by  the  short  enlistments  of  the  army,  which  were  made  for 
only  the  year,  Congress  expecting  in  that  time  a  favorable 
answer  to  their  second  petition  to  the  king.  The  new 
recruits  came  in  slowly,  and  means  were  feebly  supplied,  but 
Washington  determined  upon  an  attack.  For  this  purpose 
he  fortified  Dorchester  Height.  The  British  made  an  attempt 
to  dislodge  him,  which  was  interrupted  by  a  storm ;  and 
General  Howe,  having  already  resolved  to  evacuate  the  city, 
a  few  days  after  ingloriously  sailed  away  with  his  troops  to 
Halifax.  The  next  day,  March  18, 1776,  Washington  entered 
the  town  in  triumph.  Thus  ended  the  chapter  of  his  Revo- 


424  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

lutionary  campaign.  There  had  been  little  opportunity  for 
brilliant  action,  but  great  difficulties  had  been  overcome  and 
substantial  benefits  gained. 

New  York  was  evidently  to  be  the  next  point  of  attack 
by  the  British,  and  thither  Washington  gathered  his  forces 
and  adopted  every  available  means  of  defense  on  land.  By 
the  beginning  of  July,  when  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
was  received  in  camp,  General  Howe  had  made  his  appear- 
ance in  the  lower  bay  of  New  York,  from  Halifax,  where 
he  was  speedily  joined  by  his  brother,  Lord  Howe,  the  ad- 
miral, who  came  with  propositions  for  reconciliation.  The 
substance  of  his  overtures  was  incorporated  in  a  letter  ad- 
dressed, "  George  Washington,  Esq.,"  and  sent  by  a  mes- 
senger ;  but  Washington,  divining  the  nature  of  the  communi- 
cation, and  knowing  it  ought  to  be  addressed  to  him  in  his 
official  capacity,  if  at  all,  declined  to  receive  it.  Another 
messenger  was  sent  with  the  letter  addressed  to  General 
Washington,  but  even  the  "General"  would  not  have  it. 
The  British  adjutant,  however,  verbally  reported  the  contents 
of  the  epistle,  to  which  Washington  replied,  that  it  related 
wholly  to  pardons,  and  the  Americans,  who  had  committed 
no  offense,  but  stood  only  upon  their  rights,  were  in  no  need 
of  clemency  from  the  mother  country.  Thus  terminated  the 
interview. 

Re-enforcements  to  the  royal  troops  on  Staten  Island 
soon  arrived  from  England.  They  made  a  landing  on  Long 
Island,  and  a  battle  was  imminent.  It  occurred  on  the  27th 
of  August,  and  was  disastrous  to  the  American  arms. 
The  slaughter  was  great.  Still  the  main  works  occupied 
by  the  American  troops  at  Brooklyn  remained  as  they  were, 


LIVES  OF  THE  f> RESIDENTS..  425 

though  no  longer  tenable,  exposed  to  the  enemy's  fleet. 
But  the  day  after  the  battle,  and  the  next,  were  passed 
without  any  decisive  movements  on  the  part  of  the 
British,  who  weje  about  bringing  up  their  ships,  and  who 
doubtless,  as  they  had  good  reason,  considered  their  prey 
secure.  On  the  twenty-ninth,  Washington  took  his  meas- 
ures for  retreat,  and  so  perfectly  were  they  arranged  that 
the  whole  force  of  nine  thousand,  with  artillery,  horses,  and 
the  entire  equipage  of  war,  were  borne  off  that  night,  under 
cover  of  the  fog,  to  the  opposite  shore  in  triumph.  It  was 
a  most  masterly  maneuver,  planned  and  superintended  by 
Washington  from  the  beginning.  He  did  not  sleep  or  rest 
after  the  battle  till  it  was  executed,  and  was  among  the  last 
to  cross. 

After  this  followed  in  rapid  succession,  though  with  no 
undue  haste,  the  abandonment  of  New  York,  the  withdrawal 
of  troops  into  Westchester,  the  affair  at  White  Plains,  the 
more  serious  loss  of  Fort  Washington,  and  the  retreat 
through  the  Jerseys.  It  was  the  darkest  period  of  the 
war — the  days  of  which  Paine  wrote  in  the  opening  num- 
ber of  his  "  Crisis  :  "  "  These  are  the  times  that  try  men's 
souls.  The  summer  soldier  and  the  sunshine  patriot  will, 
in  this  crisis,  shrink  from  the  service  of  his  country ;  but  he 
that  stands  it  now  deserves  the  love  and  thanks  of  man 
and  woman." 

After  the  battle  of  Long  Island,  there  had  been  little 
but  weariness  and  disaster  in  the  movements  of  Washington 
to  the  end  of  the  year,  when,  as  the  forces  of  Howe  were 
apparently  closing  in  upon  him  to  open  the  route  to  Phila- 
delphia, he  turned  in  very  despair,  and  by  the  brilliant  affair 


426  THE  VOTERS1  HAND-BOOK. 

at  Trenton  retarded  the  motions  of  the  enemy  and  checked 
the  growing  despondency  of  his  countrymen.  It  was  well- 
planned  and  courageously  undertaken.  Christmas  night,  of 
a  most  inclement  season,  when  the  river  was  blocked  with 
ice,  was  chosen  to  cross  the  Delaware,  and  attack  the  British 
and  Hessians  on  the  opposite  side.  The  expedition  was  led 
by  Washington  in  person,  who  anxiously  watched  the  slow 
process  of  transportation  on  the  river,  which  lasted  from 
sunset  till  near  dawn — too  long  for  the  contemplated  sur- 
prise by  night.  A  storm  of  hail  and  snow  now  set  in,  as 
the  general  advanced  with  his  men,  reaching  the  outposts 
about  8  o'clock.  A1  gallant  onset  was  made,  in  which  Lieu- 
tenant James  Monroe,  afterward  President,  was  wounded. 
Sullivan  and  the  other  officers,  according  to  a  previously  ar- 
ranged plan,  seconded  the  movement  from  another  part  of 
the  town ;  the  Hessians  were  disconcerted,  and  their  gen- 
eral, Rahl,  slain,  when  a  surrender  was  made,  nearly  a  thou- 
sand prisoners  laying  down  their  arms.  General  Howe, 
astounded  at  the  event,  sent  out  Cornwallis  in  pursuit,  and 
he  had  his  game  seemingly  secure  when  Washington,  in 
front  of  him  at  Trenton,  on  the  same  side  of  the  Delaware, 
made  a  bold  diversion  in  an  attack  upon  the  forces  left  be- 
hind at  Princeton.  It  was  conducted  at  night,  and,  like  the 
other,  attended  by  success,  though  it  cost  the  life  of  the 
gallant  Mercer.  After  these  brilliant  actions  the  little  army 
went  into  winter  quarters  at  Morristown. 

The  next  spring  and  summer  were  marked  by  no  strik- 
ing events  except  the  withdrawal  of  the  British  troops 
from  the  Delaware ;  the  advance  of  Burgoyne  from  Canada ; 
the  embarkation  of  General  Howe  for  the  purpose  of  mak- 


LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS.  427 

ing  his  way  up  the  Chesapeake  to  gain  access  to  Philadel- 
phia from  Maryland ;  the  arrival  of  Marquis  de  Lafayette  as 
a  volunteer  in  the  cause  of  liberty ;  and  the  battle  of  Chad's 
Ford,  on  the  east  side  of  the  Brandywine.  A  stand  was 
made  at  this  point,  to  which  Knyphausen  was  opposed  on 
the  opposite  bank,  while  Cornwallis,  with  a  large  division, 
took  the  upper  course  of  the  river  and  turned  the  flank  of 
the  position.  A  rout  ensued,  but  the  utter  defeat  of  the 
Americans  was  saved  by  General  Greene,  who  was  placed  at 
an  advantageous  point.  Lafayette  was  severly  wounded. 
Washington  was  not  dismayed ;  on  the  contrary,  he  kept  the 
field,  marshaling  and  maneuvering  through  a  hostile  coun- 
try— one  thousand  of  his  troops,  as  he  informed  Congress, 
actually  barefoot.  He  would  have  offered  battle,  but  was 
without  the  means  to  resist  effectively  the  occupation  of 
Philadelphia. 

Thus  closed  the  campaign  of  1777  in  Pennsylvania, 
while  Burgoyne  was  laying  down  his  arms  to  the  northern 
army  at  Saratoga.  The  encampment  at  Valley  Forge  suc- 
ceeded the  scenes  we  have  described.  It  is  a  name  synony- 
mous with  suffering.  Half  clad,  wanting  frequently  the 
simplest  clothing,  without  shoes  or  blankets,  the  army  was 
hutted  in  the  snows  and  ice  of  the  inclement  winter.  With 
the  return  of  summer  came  the  evacuation  of  Philadelphia 
by  the  British,  who  pursued  their  route  across  New  Jersey 
to  embark  upon  the  waters  of  New  York.  On  the  28th  of 
June,  1778,  they  were  attacked  by  Washington's  forces  at 
Monmouth  Court  House,  and  defeated  with  some  loss.  The 
remainder  of  the  season  was  passed  by  the  American  army 
on  the  eastern  borders  of  the  Hudson,  in  readiness  to  co- 


428  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

operate  with  the  French,  who  had  now  arrived  under  D'Es- 
taing,  and  in  watching  the  British  in  New  York. 

The  event  of  the  next  year  in  the  little  army  of  Wash- 
ington, was  the  gallant  storming  of  Stony  Point  by  General 
Wayne.  This  was  one  of  the  defenses  of  the  Highlands,  on 
the  Hudson,  which  had  just  before  been  captured  and 
manned  by  Sir  Henry  Clinton.  General  Henry  Lee's 
spirited  attack  on  Paulus  Hook,  within  sight  of  New  York, 
followed,  to  cheer  the  encampment  of  Washington,  who  now 
busied  himself  in  fortifying  West  Point.  Winter  found 
our  army  again  quartered  in  New  Jersey,  this  time  at  Mor- 
ristown,  where  the  hardships  and  severities  of  Valley  Forge 
were  even  exceeded  in  the  distressed  condition  of  the  troops 
in  that  rigorous  season. 

The  most  prominent  event  of  the  year  1780,  in  the  per- 
sonal career  of  Washington,  was  the  defection  of  Arnold, 
with  its  attendant  execution  of  Andre.  We  may  not  pause 
over  the  subsequent  events  of  the  war,  the  renewed  exer- 
tions of  Congress,  the  severe  contests  in  the  South,  the 
meditated  movement  upon  New  York  in  the  following  year, 
but  hasten  to  the  sequel  at  Yorktown.  The  movement  of 
the  army  of  Washington  to  Virginia  was  determined  by  the 
expected  arrival  of  the  French  fleet  in  that  quarter  from  the 
West  Indies.  Cornwallis  had  arrived  from  the  South,  and 
was  entrenching  himself  on  York  River.  Washington,  who 
had  been  planning  an  attack  upon  New  York  with  Rocham- 
beau,  now  suddenly  and  secretly  directed  his  forces  by  a 
rapid  march  southward.  Extraordinary  exertions  were 
made  to  expedite  the  troops.  The  timely  arrival  of  Colonel 
Lawrens,  from  France,  with  an  installment  of  the  French 


LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS.      ^  429 

loan  in  specie,  came  to  the  aid  of  the  liberal  efforts  of  the 
financier  of  the  Revolution,  Robert  Morris.  Lafayette,  with 
the  Virginians,  was  hedging  in  the  fated  Cornwallis.  Wash- 
ington had  just  left  Philadelphia,  when  he  heard  the  joyous 
news  of  the  arrival  of  DeGrasse  in  the  Chesapeake.  The 
combined  French  and  American  forces  closed  in  upon  York- 
town,  which  was  fortified  by  redoubts  and  batteries,  and  on 
the  first  of  October  the  place  was  completely  invested.  The 
first  parallel  was  opened  on  the  sixth.  On  the  ninth  Wash- 
ington lighted  the  first  gun.  The  storming  of  two  annoying 
redoubts  by  French  and  American  parties  was  set  down  for 
the  night  of  the  fourteenth.  Hamilton,  at  the  head  of  the 
latter,  gallantly  carried  one  of  the  works  at  the  point  of  the 
bayonet  without  firing  a  gun.  The  redoubts  gained  were 
fortified  and  turned  against  the  town.  The  second  parallel 
was  ready  to  open  its  fire.  Cornwallis  vainly  attempted  to 
escape  with  his  forces  across  the  river.  He  received  no  re- 
lief from  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  at  New  York,  and  on  the  17th 
he  propbsed  a  surrender.  On  the  19th,  the  terms  having 
been  dictated  by  Washington,  the  whole  British  force  laid 
down  their  arms.  It  was  the  virtual  termination  of  the  war; 
the  crowning  act  of  a  vast  series  of  military  operations 
planned  and  perfected  by  the  genius  of  Washington. 

During  the  remainder  of  the  war  his  efforts  and  vigilance 
were  not  relaxed.  The  news  of  peace  arrived  in  the  early 
summer  of  1783,  and  the  army  prepared  to  separate.  In 
memory  of  their  fraternity  the  Society  of  the  Cincinnati 
was  founded,  consisting  of  officers  of  the  Revolution  and 
their  descendants,  with  Washington  at  their  head.  In  the 
beginning  of  November  he  took  leave  of  the  army  in  an  ad- 


430  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

dress  from  head-quarters,  with  his  accustomed  warmth  and 
emotion,  and  on  the  25th  entered  New  York  at  the  head  of 
a  military  and  civic  procession,  as  the  British  evacuated  the 
city.  On  the  4th  December  he  was  escorted  to  the  harbor, 
on  his  way  to  Congress  to  resign  his  command,  after  a  touch- 
,  ing  scene  of  farewell  with  his  officers,  when  the  great  heart 
did  not  disdain  the  sensibility  of  a  tear  and  the  kiss  of  his 
friends.  On  the  23d  of  the  month  he  restored  his  commis- 
sion to  Congress,  with  a  few  remarks  of  great  felicity,  in 
which  he  commended  "the  interests  of  our  dearest  country 
to  the  protection  of  Almighty  God,  and  those  who  have  the 
superintendence  of  them  to  his  holy  keeping." 

In  1787  he  was  placed  at  the  head  of  the  convention 
which  gave  a  government  to  the  scattered  States  and  made 
this  country  a  Nation;  and  soon  thereafter  he  was  again 
called  to  listen  to  the  highest  demands  of  his  country  in  his 
unanimous  election  to  the  Presidency.  With  what  emotions, 
with  what  humble  resignation  to  the  voice  of  duty,  with 
how  little  fluttering  of  vainglory,  let  the  modest  entry  in 
his  diary  of  April  16,  1789,  cited  by  Washington  Irving,  tes- 
tify:  "About  ten  o'clock,"  he  writes,  "I  bade  adieu  to 
Mount  Vernon,  to  private  life  and  to  domestic  felicity;  and 
with  a  mind  oppressed  with  more  anxious  and  painful  sen- 
sations than  I  have  words  to  express,  set  out  for  New  York 
with  the  best  disposition  to  render  service  to  my  country  in 
obedience  to  its  call,  but  with  less  hope  of  answering  its  ex- 
pectations." His  inauguration  took  place  on  the  30th  of 
April.  His  administration  is  noted  for  the  perfection  of 
plans  for  a  republican  government.  In  September  an  act 
was  passed  by  Congress,  providing  for  a  department  of 


LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS.  431 

foreign  affairs,  a  treasury  department,  and  a  department  of 
war.  Jefferson  was  made  secretary  of  the  first,  Knox  of 
the  second,  Hamilton  of  the  third.  A  supreme  court  was 
also  organized,  John  Jay  receiving  the  appointment  of  first 
chief-justice.  Edmund  Randolph  was  chosen  attorney-gen- 
eral. On  29th  September,  1789,  Congress  adjourned  till 
the  following  January,  and  Washington-  availed  himself  of 
the  interval  to  make  a  tour  of  the  Eastern  States.  He  was 
everywhere  greeted  with  the  most  enthusiastic  receptions, 
and  returned  to  New  York  greatly  improved  in  health. 

The  indebtedness  of  the  United  States  at  this  time  was 
eighty  millions ;  and  for  a  while  raised  some  threatening 
questions.  The  genius  of  Hamilton,  however,  triumphed 
over  every  difficulty.  Through  his  advice  a  duty  was  laid  on 
the  tonnage  of  merchant  ships,  with  discrimination  in  favor 
of  American  vessels ;  and  imports  were  levied  upon  all  goods 
from  abroad.  These  schemes  were  violently  opposed  by 
quite  an  array  or  doctrinaires,  but  Hamilton's  policy  was 
happily  sustained  and  the  credit  of  the  government  soon 
firmly  established.  In  1791,  Vermont  came  into  the  Union 
as  the  fourteenth  State,  and  in  1792  Kentucky  was  admitted. 
At  the  presidential  election  held  in  the  autumn  of  1792 
Washington  was  again  unanimously  elected,  and  John  Adams 
was  elected  Vice-president. 

Our  relations  with  foreign  governments  were  considerably 
excited  during  Washington's  second  administration.  The 
French  Revolution  of  1789  was  still  running  its  riotous 
course.  The  king  had  been  murdered.  Citizen  Genet  was 
sent  as  minister  to  the  United  States  by  the  new  republic. 
On  his  arrival  at  Charleston,  and  on  his  way  to  Philadelphia 


432  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

he  was  greeted  enthusiastically,  and  taking  advantage  of 
these  evidences  of  popularity,  he  soon  began  to  abuse  his 
authority,  fitted  out  privateers  to  prey  upon  the  commerce 
of  Great  Britain,  planned  expeditions  against  Louisiana,  and, 
although  the  President  had  already  issued  a  proclamation 
of  neutrality,  demanded  an  alliance  with  the  government. 
Washington  and  his  cabinet  firmly  refused,  and  the  audacious 
minister  threatened  to  appeal  to  the  people.  In  this  out- 
rageous conduct  he  was  sustained  and  encouraged  by  the 
anti-Federal  party.  But  Washington  was  unmoved,  declared 
the  conduct  of  the  French  minister  an  insult  to  the  United 
States,  and  demanded  his  recall.  The  authorities  of  France 
heeded  the  demand,  and  Genet  was  superseded  by  Citizen 
Fouchet. 

At  about  this  time  there  was  trouble  in  the  cabinet. 
Hamilton's  financial  measures  were  attacked  with  vehement 
animosity  by  Jefferson ;  and  the  policy  of  Jefferson,  in  his 
relations  and  duties  as  secretary  of  foreign  affairs,  furnished 
the  occasion  for  much  bitter  criticism  from  Hamilton's 
glittering  pen.  Both  these  officers  were  patriots,  and  both 
had  insisted  upon  Washington's  re-election  to  the  Presidency. 
But  in  1794,  Jefferson  resigned  his  office  and  retired  to  the 
privacy  of  Monticello.  A  year  later  Hamilton  also  retired 
from  the  cabinet,  and  was  succeeded  by  Oliver  Wolcott,  of 
Connecticut.  In  1793  a  series  of  dastardly  outrages  were 
committed  upon  the  commerce  of  the  United  States  by 
Great  Britain.  George  III  had  issued  secret  instructions 
to  British  privateers  to  seize  all  neutral  vessels  that  might 
be  found  trading  in  the  French  West  Indies.  Our  govern- 
ment received  no  notice  of  this  measure ;  and  American 


LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS.  433 

commerce  to  the  value  of  many  millions  was  swept  from  the 
sea  by  a  process  equal  to  highway  robbery.  War  seemed 
imminent,  but  prudence  prevailed  over  passion,  and  in  May, 
1794,  Chief-justice  Jay  was  sent  as  envoy  extraordinary 
to  demand  redress  of  the  British  Government.  Contrary  to 
expectation,  his  mission  was  successful,  and  in  the  follow- 
ing November  an  honorable  treaty  was  concluded.  It  was 
specified  in  this  treaty  that  Great  Britain  should  make  ample 
reparation  for  the  injuries  done  by  her  privateers,  and  sur- 
render to  the  United  States  certain  Western  posts  which 
until  now  had  been  held  by  English  garrisons. 

The  boundary  between  the  United  States  and  Louisiana 
was  settled  by  a  treaty  with  Spain  in  1795.  Tennessee,  the 
third  new  State,  was  organized  and  admitted  into  the  Union 
in  1796.  These  were  among  the  last  acts  of  Washington's 
administration.  The  time  had  arrived  when  his  views  were 
not  cordially  supported  by  Congress,  and  he  longed  for  the 
retirement  to  private  life ;  but  so  long  as  he  occupied  the 
presidential  chair  he  proved  to  be  stronger  than  Congress. 
So  strong  were  the  President's  views  in  determining  the  action 
of  the  people,  that  Jefferson,  writing  to  Monroe,  at  Paris, 
said  :  "  Congress  has  adjourned.  You  will  see  by  their  pro- 
ceedings the  truth  of  what  I  always  told  you,  namely,  that 
one  man  outweighs  them  all  in  influence  over  the  people, 
who  support  his  judgment  against  their  own  and  that  of 
their  representatives.  Republicanism  resigns  the  vessel  to 
the  pilot." 

He  was  solicited  to  accept  the  presidential  office  for  a 
third  term,  but  firmly  declined.  Yet  he  parted  fondly  with 
the  Nation,  and  like  a  parent,  desired  to  leave  some  legacy  of 

28 


434  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

counsel  to  the  offspring  of  liberty.  Accordingly  he  published 
in  September,  1796,  in  the  Daily  Advertiser  at  Philadelphia, 
the  paper  known  as  his  Farewell  Address  to  the  People  of 
the  United  States.  It  had  long  engaged  his  attention.  He 
planned  it  himself,  and,  careful  of  what  he  felt  might  be 
used  as  a  political  landmark  for  ages,  consulted  Jay,  Madison, 
and  Hamilton  in  its  composition.  The  spirit  and  sentiment, 
the  political  wisdom  and  patriotic  fervor,  are  every  whit  his 
own,  and  the  production  will  always  remain  a  valuable  legacy 
to  the  American  freeman. 

After  Washington's  retirement  to  Mount  Vernon,  new 
complications  with  France  were  threatened.  Active  hostili- 
ties were  anticipated.  The  President  looked  to  Washington 
to  organize  the  army  and  take  command,  should  it  be  brought 
into  action,  and  he  busied  himself  with  the  necessary  prepa- 
rations. He  thought  it  best  to  be  prepared  for  the  emer- 
gency. Fresh  negotiations  for  settlement  of  the  dispute 
were  opened,  but  he  did  not  live  to  witness  their  pacific  re- 
sults. On  the  12th  of  December,  1799,  he  was  prostrated 
by  exposure  to  a  heavy  storm,  and  died  on  the  14th.  His 
remains  were  buried  at  Mount  Vernon,  and  there  the  remains 
of  his  beloved  wife,  who  died  22d  May,  1802,  are  also  de- 
posited. Those  who  imitate  his  virtues  and  heed  his  coun- 
sels will  conceive  for  the  Union  of  these  States  "  a  cordial, 
habitual,  and  immovable  attachment,"  and  entitle  themselves 
to  the  confidence  and  approval  of  good  men  everywhere. 


LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 


435 


JOHN  ADAMS. 

JOHN  ADAMS,  second  President  of  the  United  States, 
was  born  at  Braintree,  Massachusetts,  October  19,  1735. 
He  graduated  from  Harvard  College  at  the  age  of  twenty, 
and  immediately  occupied  the  position  of  Latin  master  in  the 
grammar  school 
at  Worcester. 
While  teaching 
school  he  found 
time  to  read  law 
with  an  attorney 
at  Worcester,  and 
in  1758  he  was 
formally  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar 
as  attorney-at- 
law  in  his  maj- 
esty's courts  of 
the  province.  In 
1764  he  married 
Abigail,  daughter 
of  Rev.  William 
Smith,  of  Wey- 
mouth,  and  granddaughter  of  Colonel  John  Quincy,  of  Mt. 
Wollaston,  of  colonial  fame. 

Adams  began  his  political  career  by  offering  public  reso- 
lutions at  Braintree,  and  maintaining  an  argument  in  behalf 
of  the  town  of  Boston,  addressed  to  the  Colonial  Govern- 


JOHN  ADAMS. 


436  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

ment  in  opposition  to  the  Stamp  Act.  He  published,  at 
about  the  same  date,  several  papers  in  the  Boston  Gazette, 
which  were  reprinted  in  London  by  Thomas  Hollis,  who 
gave  them  the  unfortunate  title,  "A  Dissertation  on  the 
Canon  and  the  Feudal  Law,"  which  has  probably  prevented 
many  persons  looking  at  the  tract  who  would  be  interested 
in  its  review  of  the  principles  of  the  New  England  settle- 
ments and  its  vigorous  appeal  to  the  people  in  the  then  ex- 
isting struggle.  Shortly  thereafter  he  was  elected  to  the 
General  Court,  as  the  legislative  body  was  then  called  in 
Massachusetts. 

In  1774  he  was  appointed  by  the  General  Court  one  of 
the  representatives  to  the  Congress  at  Philadelphia,  his  as- 
sociates being  Thomas  Gushing,  Samuel  Adams,  and  Robert 
Treat  Paine.  The  business  of  Congress  at  once  engaged  his 
attention,  and  a  session  full  of  work  was  experienced,  if  not 
enjoyed.  Returning  to  Massachusetts  after  the  performance 
of  these  duties,  he  was  chosen  to  the  Provincial  Congress, 
already  quite  busy  with  revolt.  Three  weeks  after  the  bat- 
tle of  Lexington  he  was  at  Philadelphia,  in  attendance  upon 
the  Second  Congress.  Early  upon  the  assembling  of  that 
body  he  proposed  Washington  for  commander-in-chief ;  "the 
modest,  the  virtuous,  the  amiable,  generous,  and  brave,"  as 
he  called  him  in  a  letter  to  his  wife. 

During  the  session,  Adams  was  diligently  employed  in 
the  preparatory  measures  which  led  to  the  Declaration  of 
Independence.  July  3,  1776,  on  the  passage  of  Lee's  reso- 
lution of  independence,  he  wrote  to  his  wife  as  follows : 
"Yesterday  the  greatest  question  was  decided  which  ever 
was  debated  in  America,  and  a  greater,  perhaps,  never  was 


LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS.  437 

nor  will  be  decided  among  men.  The  second  day  of  July, 
1776,  will  be  the  most  memorable  epoch  in  the  history  of 
America.  I  am  apt  to  believe  that  it  will  be  celebrated  by 
succeeding  generations  as  the  great  anniversary  festival.  It 
ought  to  be  commemorated  as  the  day  of  deliverance  by 
solemn  acts  of  devotion  to  Almighty  God.  It  ought  to  be 
solemnized  with  pomp  and  parade,  with  shows,  games, 
sports,  guns,  bells,  bonfires,  and  illuminations  from  one  end 
of  this  continent  to  the  other,  from  this  time  forward, 
for  ever  more." 

Adams  was  on  the  committee  to  prepare  the  declaration, 
and  was  active  in  the  debate.  In  the  absence  of  the  pres- 
ent system  of  executive  duties  of  government,  the  old  Con- 
gress was  compelled  to  resort  to  the  awkward  expedient  of 
boards,  in  which  the  honor  and  efficiency,  rather  than  the 
toil,  were  diminished  by  the  division  of  labor.  Adams  was 
made  chairman  of  the  Board  of  War,  and  was  much  em- 
ployed in  military  affairs  till  his  departure  from  Congress  at 
the  close  of  the  next  year. 

Having  become  dissatisfied  with  the  management  of 
Silas  Dean  in  France,  Congress,  in  1777,  appointed  Adams 
in  his  place.  He  remained  abroad  only  eighteen  months, 
and  was  recalled  at  his  own  request.  He  arrived  at  Boston 
on  the  second  of  August,  1779,  and  within  a  week  from  that 
date  was  elected  by  his  fellow-citizens  of  Braintree  their 
delegate  to  the  Constitutional  Convention  of  Massachusetts. 
Before  this  duty  was  complete,  he  was  again  sent  abroad  to 
negotiate  treaties  of  peace  and  alliance  with  foreign  nations, 
at  which  he  was  employed  for  several  years,  and  in  1785  he 
was  appointed  the  first  American  minister  to  England. 


438  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

In  the  spring  of  1788  he  returned  to  America.  It  was 
the  period  of  the  adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution,  and 
when  that  instrument  went  fully  into  effect  it  was  found 
that  Adams  had  been  chosen  Vice-president,  he  having  re- 
ceived the  greatest  number  of  votes  of  the  electors,  next  to 
Washington.  He  held  this  office  during  both  terms  of 
Washington's  administration,  and  gave  active  and  often  im- 
portant assistance  and  support  to  the  President. 

In  1797  he  succeeded  to  the  Presidency,  by  a  vote  of 
seventy-one  over  sixty-eight  for  Jefferson.  He  found  the 
country  in  imminent  danger  of  a  conflict  with  France,  but 
the  difficulty  was  peacefully  settled.  His  administration  is 
noted  by  the  fact  that  under  it  the  celebrated  alien  and  se- 
dition laws  were  enacted.  His  Presidency  closed  with  a 
single  term  and  the  obstinate  struggle  which  resulted  in  the 
election  of  Jefferson.  In  his  retirement  at  Quincy  he  was 
full  of  activity,  writing  for  the  press  and  reviving  for  pos- 
terity past  scenes  of  the  history  in  which  he  was  a  part  in 
an  autobiographical  memoir. 

In  1818,  when  he  was  in  his  eighty-third  year,  his  wife, 
one  of  the  mothers  of  America,  full  of  the  sweetest  and 
grandest  memories  of  the  past,  was  taken  from  him.  His 
last  public  service  was  an  occasional  attendance  at  the  con- 
vention for  the  formation  of  a  new  Constitution  for  Massa- 
chusetts, he  then  being  eighty-five.  Returning  to  thoughts 
of  early  friendship,  he  corresponded  with  Jefferson.  The 
two  venerable  fathers  of  the  Republic,  Jefferson  at  the  age 
of  eighty-three,  John  Adams  at  ninety,  died  simultaneously 
upon  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  Nation's  birth,  July  4, 
1826.  A  few  days  before  his  death,  the  orator  of  his  native 


LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS.  439 

town  called  upon  Adams  for  a  toast  to  be  presented  at  the 
ensuing  anniversary.  "  Independence  forever !"  was  the  re- 
ply. As  the  sentiment  was  delivered  at  the  banquet  amid 
ringing  plaudits,"  the  soul  of  the  dying  patriot  was  passing 
from  earth  to  eternity.  - 


THOMAS  JEKKERSOK. 

1  ^HOMAS  JEFFERSON,  third  President  of  the  United 
States,  was  born  at  Shadwell,  Virginia,  April  2,  1743. 
He  had  good  private  tutors  during  childhood  and  youth,  and 
in  1760  entered  William  and  Mary  College.  Here  he  re- 
mained but  two  years,  but  his  education  was  happily  con- 
tinued in  his  immediate  entrance  upon  the  study  of  the  law 
with  George  Wythe,  the  eminent  chancellor  of  Virginia  in 
after  days. 

In  1767  he  was  introduced  to  the  bar  of  the  General 
Court  of  Virginia,  and  immediately  entered  upon  a  success- 
ful career  of  practice,  interrupted  only  by  the  Revolution. 
He  was  a  well-trained,  skilful  lawyer,  an  adept  in  the  cas- 
uisty  of  legal  questions.  He  was  more  distinguished,  how- 
ever, for  ability  in  argument  than  for  power  as  an  orator. 

His  first  entrance  upon  political  life  was  in  1769,  when 
he  was  sent  from  the  county  of  Albemarle  to  the  House  of 
Burgesses.  It  was  at  the  entrance  upon  a  troublous  time 
in  the  consideration  of  national  grievances,  and  we  find  him 
engaged  at  once  in  preparing  the  resolutions  and  address  to 
the  governor's  message.  The  House,  in  reply  to  recent 
declarations  of  Parliament,  reasserted  the  American  princi- 


440 


THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 


pies  of  taxation  and  petition,  and  other  questions  in  jeop- 
ardy, and  in  consequence  was  promptly  dissolved  by  Lord 
Botetourt.  Next  day  the  members,  George  Washington 
among  them,  met  at  the  Raleigh  tavern  and  pledged  them- 
selves to  a  non-importation  agreement. 

Next  year,  after  the  conflagration  of  the  house  at  Shad- 
well,  he  took  up  his  residence  at  the  adjacent  "  Monticello," 

also  upon  his  pa- 
ternal grounds,  in 
a  portion  of  the 
edifice  so  famous 
afterwards  as  the 
dwelling-place  of 
his  maturer  years. 
In  1772,  on  New- 
Year's  Day,  he 
assumed  the  re- 
sponsibilities of 
domestic  life  in 
marriage  with 
Mrs.  Martha  Skel- 
ton,  a  widow  of 
twenty-three,  of 
THOMAS  JEFFFRSON.  much  beauty,  ex- 

tensive general  culture,  and  many  winning  accomplishments. 
Political  affairs  were  soon  calling  for  additional  legisla- 
tive attention.  The  renewed  claim  of  the  British  to  send 
persons  for  State  offenses  to  England,  brought  forward  in 
Rhode  Island,  awakened  a  strong  feeling  of  resistance  among 
the  Virginia  delegates.  A  portion  of  them,  including  Jef- 


LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS.  441 

ferson,  met  at  the  Raleigh  tavern  and  drew  up  resolutions 
'  creating  a  committee  of  correspondence  to  watch  the  pro- 
ceedings of  Parliament  and  keep  up  communication  with  the 
colonies.  These  resolutions  passed  the  Burgesses,  and  a 
committee,  all  notable  men  of  the  Revolution,  was  appointed. 
It  included  Peyton  Randolph,  Richard  Henry  Lee,  Patrick 
Henry,  and  others,  ending  with  Jefferson.  Then  the  Earl 
of  Dunmore,  following  the  example  of  his  predecessor,  dis- 
solved the  House. 

Next  year  the  new  Legislature  met,  and  roused  by  the 
passage  of  the  Boston  Port  Bill,  a  few  members,  says  Jef- 
ferson, including  Henry  and  himself,  resolved  to  place  the 
Assembly  "in  line  with  Massachusetts." 

The  expedient  they  hit  upon  was  a  fast  day,  which,  by 
the  help  of  some  Puritan  precedents  they  "cooked  up"  and 
placed  in  the  hands  of  a  grave  member  to  lay  before  the 
House.  It  was  passed,  and  the  governor,  as  usual,  dissolved 
the  assembly.  The  fast  was  appointed  for  the  first  of  June, 
the  day  on  which  the  obnoxious  bill  was  to  take  effect,  and 
there  was  certainly  one  man  in  Virginia  who  kept  it.  We 
may  read  in  the  diary  of  George  Washington  of  that  date, 
"Went  to  Church  and  fasted  all  day." 

The  dissolved  assembly  again  met  at  the  Raleigh  and 
decided  upon  a  convention,  to  be  elected  by  the  people  of 
the  several  counties,  and  held  at  Williamsburg,  so  that  two 
bodies  had  to  be  chosen,  one  to  assemble  in  the  new  House 
of  Burgesses,  the  other  beyond  reach  of  government  con- 
trol. The  same  members,  those  of  the  previous  House, 
were  sent  for  both.  Jefferson  again  represented  the  free- 
holders of  Albemarle.  The  instructions  which  the  county 


442  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

gave,  supposed  from  his  pen,  assert  the  independence  of 
the  Colonial  Legislature  as  the  sole  fount  of  authority  in 
new  laws. 

The  Williamsburg  convention  met  and  appointed  dele- 
gates to  the  first  general  Congress.  Jefferson  was  detained 
from  the  assembly  by  illness,  but  he  forwarded  a  draft 
of  instructions  for  the  delegates,  which  was  not  adopted, 
but  ordered  printed  by  the  members.  It  bore  the  title,  "A 
Summary  View  of  the  Rights  of  British  America."  It 
reached  England,  was  taken  up  by  the  opposition,  and,  with 
some  interpolations  from  Burke,  passed  through  several  edi- 
tions. Though  in  advance  of  the  judgment  of  the  people, 
who  were  slow  in  coming  up  to  the  true  principles  of  the 
great  reform,  the  "view"  undoubtedly  assisted  that  judg- 
ment. But  so  slow  was  the  progress  of  opinion  at  the  out- 
set that,  at  the  moment  when  this  paper  was  written,  only 
a  few  leaders,  such  as  Samuel  Adams  and  Patrick  Henry, 
were  capable  of  appreciating  it.  The  country  was  not  yet 
ready  to  receive  its  virtual  declaration  of  independence. 

The  Congress  of  1774  met,  but  adopted  milder  forms  of 
petition,  better  adapted  to  the  moderation  of  their  senti- 
ments. Meanwhile  committees  of  safety  were  organized  in 
Virginia,  and  Jefferson  headed  the  list  in  his  county.  He 
also  attended  the  second  Virginia  convention  at  Richmond, 
and  listened  to  Patrick  Henry's  impassioned  appeal  to  the 
God  of  battles,  "  I  repeat  it,  sir,  we  must  fight !"  The  as- 
sembly adopted  the  view,  and  set  about  preparing  means  of 
defense.  Delegates  to  the  first  Congress  were  elected  to 
the  second,  and  it  was  understood  that  in  case  Peyton  Ran- 
dolph should  be  called  to  preside  over  the  House  of  Bur- 


LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS.  443 

gesses,  Thomas  Jefferson  was  to  be  his  successor  at  Phila- 
delphia. The  House  met.  Randolph  was  elected  and  Jeffer- 
son departed  to  fill  his  place,  bearing  with  him  to  Congress 
the  spirited  resolutions  of  the  assembly,  which  he  had 
written  and  driven  through  in  reply  to  the  conciliatory 
propositions  of  Lord  North.  It  was  a  characteristic  intro- 
duction, immediately  followed  by  his  appointment  on  the 
committee  charged  to  prepare  a  declaration  of  the  causes  of 
taking  up  arms,  Congress'  having  just  chosen  Washington 
commander-in-chief  of  a  national  army. 

June  11,  1776,  a  committee  was  appointed  in  Congress 
to  prepare  a  Declaration  of  Independence.  Jefferson  took 
the  place  of  Richard  Henry  Lee  on  the  committee,  with 
John  Adams,  Benjamin  Franklin,  Roger  Sherman,  and 
Robert  R.  Livingston.  The  preparation  of  the  instrument 
was  intrusted  to  Jefferson.  "The  committee  desired  me  to 
do  it;  it  was  accordingly  done,"  says  his  autobiography. 
The  dr*aft  thus  prepared,  with  a  few  verbal  corrections  from 
Franklin  and  Adams,  was  submitted  to  the  House  June 
28th.  On  July  2d  it  was  taken  up  in  debate,  and  earnestly 
battled  for  three  days,  when,  on  the  afternoon  of  the  ever- 
memorable  Fourth,  it  was  finally  reported,  agreed  to,  and 
signed.  The  paper  stands  substantially  as  first  reported  by 
Jefferson.  It  is  intimately  related  to  his  previous  resolu- 
tions and  reports  in  Virginia  and  the  Congress,  and  what- 
ever merit  may  attach  to  the  composition  belongs  to  him. 

He  was  elected  to  the  next  Congress,  but  pleading  the 
state  of  his  family  affairs,  and  desirous  to  take  part  in  the 
formative  measures  of  government  then  arising  in  Virginia, 
he  was  permitted  to  resign.  He  declined  also,  immediately 


444  THE  VOTERS'  HANDBOOK. 

after,  an  appointment  by  Congress,  as  fellow-minister  to 
France  with  Dr.  Franklin.  In  the  following  October  he 
took  his  seat  in  the  Virginia  House  of  Delegates,  and  com- 
menced those  efforts  of  reform  with  which  his  name  will 
always  be  identified,  and  which  did  not  end  till  the  social 
condition  of  his  State  was  thoroughly  revolutionized.  His 
first  great  blow  was  a  bill  abolishing  entails,  which,  with 
one  subsequently  brought  in,  cutting  off  the  right  of  primo- 
geniture, leveled  the  great  landed  aristocracy  which  had 
therebefore  governed  in  the  country.  He  was  also,  at  about 
the  time  of  the  passing  of  these  acts,  created  one  of  the 
committee  for  the  general  revision  of  the  laws,  his  active 
associates  being  Edmund  Pendleton  and  George  Wythe. 
This  vast  work  was  not  completed  till  June,  1779 — an  in- 
terval of  more  than  two  years.  Among  the  one  hundred 
and  sixteen  new  bills  reported,  was  one  by  Jefferson  estab- 
lishing religious  freedom  which  abolished  tithes,  and  left 
all  men  free  "to  profess,  and  by  argument  to  maintain  their 
opinions  in  matters  of  religion,  and  that  the  same  shall  in 
nowise  diminish,  enlarge,  or  affect  their  civil  capacities."  A 
concurrent  act  provided  for  the  preservation  of  the  glebe 
lands  to  Church  members. 

He  proposed  a  system  of  free  common  school  education, 
a  method  of  re-organization  for  William  and  Mary  College, 
and  provision  for  a  free  State  library. 

In  1779  Mr.  Jefferson  succeeded  Patrick  Henry  as  gov- 
ernor of  Virginia,  falling  upon  a  period  of  administration  re- 
quiring military  defense  of  the  State — less  suited  to  his 
talents  than  the  reforming  legislation  in  which  he  had  been 
recently  engaged.  His  wife  died  in  September,  1782.  Her 


LIVES  OF  TEE  PRESIDENTS.  445 

illness  had  prevented  his  acceptance  of  an  appointment  in 
Europe,  to  negotiate  terms  of  peace.  A  similar  office  was 
now  tendered  him — the  third  proffer  of  the  kind  by  Con- 
gress— and,  looking  upon  it  as  a  relief  to  his  distracted 
mind,  as  well  as  a  duty  to  the  State,  he  accepted.  Before 
preparations  for  his  departure  were  completed,  intelligence 
was  received  of  the  progress  of  peace  negotiations,  and  the 
voyage  was  abandoned. 

November,  1783,  he  was  returned  to  Congress,  where 
one  of  his  first  duties  the  following  month  was  as  chairman 
of  the  committee  of  arrangements  for  the  reception  of  Wash- 
ington on  his  resignation  of  command.  In  1784  we  find  him 
making  his  mark  in  the  debates  upon  the  ratification  of  the 
treaty  of  peace.  In  his  suggestions  upon  the  establishment 
of  a  money  unit  and  a  national  coinage,  which  were  subse- 
quently adopted,  he  gave  us  the  decimal  system  and  the 
denomination  of  a  cent ;  the  cession  of  the  Northwestern 
Territory  by  Virginia,  with  his  report  for  its  government, 
proposing  names  for  its  new  States,  and  the  exclusion  of 
slavery  after  the  year  1800 ;  and  taking  an  active  part  in 
the  arrangement  of  commercial  treaties  with  foreign  nations. 
In  the  latter  he  was  destined  to  be  an  actor  as  well  as  de- 
signer, for  Congress,  on  7th  May,  appointed  him  to  act  in 
Europe  with  Adams  and  Franklin  in  the  accomplishment  of 
these  negotiations. 

In  the  summer  of  1785  Dr.  Franklin  resigned  from  the 
French  embassy,  and  Jefferson  remained  in  Paris  as  his  suc- 
cessor. Returning  to  the  United  States  in  1789,  President 
Washington  appointed  him  Secretary  of  State,  which  posi- 
tion he  filled  with  honor  till  1793,  performing  noble  work. 


446  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

Four  years  he  remained  in  retirement  at  Monticello,  and  in 
1797,  upon  the  election  of  John  Adams,  reappeared  upon 
the  political  stage  as  Vice-president.  The  storm  of  party 
began  under  Adams,  and  one  of  its  results  was  the  election 
of  Jefferson  to  the  Presidency  in  1800. 

Among  the  earlier  of  his  measures,  and  the  most  im- 
portant during  his  eight  years  as  Chief  Magistrate,  was  the 
acquisition  of  Louisiana  by  purchase  from  France.  From 
the  first  moment  of  learning  that  this  territory  was  passing 
from  Spain  to  France,  he  dropped  all  political  sympathy 
with  the  latter,  and  saw  in  her  possession  of  the  region  only 
a  pregnant  source  of  war  and  hostility.  An  active  European 
nation  of  the  first  class  in  possession  of  the  mouth  of  the 
Mississippi  was  utterly  inadmissible  to  his  sagacious  mind. 
He  saw  and  felt  the  fact  in  all  its  consequences.  At  the 
succeeding  presidential  contest,  Jefferson  was  borne  into  of- 
fice, spite  of  a  vigorous  opposition,  by  a  vo£e  of  one  hundred 
and  sixty-two  in  the  electoral  college  to  fourteen  for  Charles 
C.  Pinckney. 

The  main  events  of  his  second  administration  were  the 
trial  of  Burr  for  his  alleged  Western  conspiracy  and  the 
measures  adopted  against  the  naval  aggressions  of  England, 
which  culminated  in  the  famous  "  Embargo,"  by  which  the 
foreign  trade  of  the  country  was  annihilated  at  a  blow  that 
Great  Britain  might  be  reached  in  her  commercial  interests. 
His  second  term  expired  in  1809,  and  he  retired  from  office 
while  the  country  was  in  an  agitated  state  in  reference  to 
its  foreign  policy,  but  with  many  elements  at  home  of  en- 
during prosperity  and  grandeur. 

He  had  been  too  much  of  a  reformer  not  to  suffer  more 


LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS.  447 

than  most  men  the  obloquy  of  party ;  but  he  lived  in  retire- 
ment during  the  remaining  seventeen  years  of  his  life  under 
the  popular  designation,  "  the  Sage  of  Monticello."  If  in 
his  latter  days  ainy  subject  was  dearer  to  his  heart  than  an- 
other it  was  the  course  of  education  in  the  organization  and 
government  of  his  favorite  University  of  Virginia.  Its  cur- 
riculum reflected  his  tastes ;  its  government  was  of  his  con- 
trivance ;  he  looked  abroad  for  its  first  professors ;  and  its 
architectural  plans,  in  which  he  took  great  interest,  were 
mainly  arranged  by  him.  He  was  chosen  by  the  board  of 
visitors  and  appointed  by  the  governor  its  rector,  and  died 
holding  the  office.  An  inscription  for  his  monument,  which 
was  found  among  his  papers  after  death,  reads  :  "  Here  lies 
buried  Thomas  Jefferson,  author  of  the  Declaration  of 
American  Independence,  of  the  Statute  of  Virginia  for  Re- 
ligious Freedom,  and  Father  of  the  University  of  Virginia." 
On  the  4th  July,  1826,  his  spirit  passed  to  the  other  shore. 


MADISON. 

JAMES  MADISON,  fourth  President  of  the  United 
States,  was  born  in  Orange  county,  Virginia,  March  16, 
1751.  He  received  his  early  education  at  a  boarding-school, 
presided  over  by  Donald  Robertson,  with  whom  he  was 
placed  at  the  age  of  twelve.  He  was  prepared  for  college 
by  the  clergyman  of  his  parish,  Rev.  Thomas  Martin,  and 
entered  Princeton  in  1768.  In  three  years  thereafter  he 
graduated  with  honor. 


448 


THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 


In  the  first  General  Convention  of  the  State  of  Virginia, 
which  organized  its  independence  in  1776,  at  Williams  burg, 
Madison  was  a  delegate  from  his  district.  He  was  one  of 
a  committee  appointed  to  frame  a  constitution,  and  rendered 
valuable  services.  He  sat  with  Jefferson  in  the  first  Legis- 
lative Assembly  under  the  Constitution  at  Williamsburg,  but 

lost  his  election 
to  the  next  ses- 
sion by  his  re- 
sistance to  the 
popular  custom, 
inherited  from 
the  Anglican  co- 
lonial times,  of 
"treating"  the 
electors. 

He  was  sent 
to  the  National 
Congress,  at  Phil- 
adelphia, in  1780, 
where  he  served 
till  the  conclusion 
of  peace.  The 
services  rendered  by  him  during  this  period  were  rather 
those  of  a  counselor  and  committee-man  than  those  of  a  de- 
bater. But  if  we  hear  little  of  the  oratory  of  Madison, 
there  is  much  to  be  said  of  his  services  to  the  old  Congress. 
They  were  those  of  the  statesman,  continually  employed  in 
eking  out  the  resources,  sustaining  the  credit,  and  adjusting 
the  irregular  machinery  of  an  imperfect  system  of  govern- 


JAMES  MADISON. 


LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS.  449 

ment.  After  the  first  glow  of  patriotism,  in  the  early 
scenes  of  the  Revolution,  there  was  more  of  toil  than  of 
glory  in  the  labors  of  Congress.  But  they  had  one  com- 
pensation. They  were  well  calculated  to  discipline  the 
statesmen  who  engaged  in  them,  and  enlighten  the  public 
upon  the  necessities  and  claims  of  a  just  government.  Out 
of  the  troubled  strife  and  confusion  came  forth,  with  others, 
Jay,  Hamilton,  and  Madison,  and  the  Nation,  after  long 
pains,  brought  forth  the  Constitution. 

We  find  him,  at  one  time,  discharging  with  consummate 
ability,  duties  which  in  these  days  would  fall  to  a  Secretary 
of  State ;  among  other  things  the  preparation  of  a  paper  to 
be  sent  to  the  minister  in  Spain,  enforcing  the  claim  to  the 
free  navigation  of  the  Mississippi.  Upon  his  return  to  Mont- 
pelier,  he  gave  special  attention  to  the  study  of  the  law, 
but  rather  with  a  view  to  statesmanship  than  with  any 
intention  to  engage  in  the  ordinary  conflicts  of  the  pro- 
fession. 

From  1784  to  1786  he  was  a  member  of  the  Virginia 
Legislature,  and  in  the  latter  year  was  re-appointed  a  mem- 
ber of  the  old  Congress.  In  1794  he  was  married  with 
Mrs.  Todd,  a  young  widow  of  Philadelphia,  better  known 
by  her  maiden  name,  Dolly  Payne.  The  marriage  was  most 
happy.  Upon  the  'election  of  Jefferson  to  the  Presidency, 
in  1801,  Madison  became  Secretary  of  State,  and  discharged 
the  duties  of  the  office  till  he  was  in  1809  called  to  succeed 
his  friend  at  the  head  of  the  government. 

The  conflict  with  England  was  the  chief  event  of  Madi- 
son's administrations.  He  was  a  man  of  peace,  not  of  the 
sword,  and  needed  not  the  terror  and  indecorum  of  the  flight 

29 


450  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

from  Washington,  and  the  burning  of  the  Capitol,  to  impress 
upon  him  the  unsatisfactory  necessities  of  war.  Public 
opinion  was  divided  as  to  the  wisdom  of  the  contest,  and  it 
is  to  the  credit  of  Madison  that,  although  he  entered  upon 
the  apparently  inevitable  hostilities  with  reluctance,  he 
maintained  the  struggle  firmly  and  brought  it  to  an  early 
close. 

He  retired  to  his  seat  at  Montpelier  in  1817,  and  with 
the  exception  of  his  participation  as  a  member  of  the  con- 
vention at  Richmond,  in  1829,  for  the  revision  of  the  Con- 
stitution of  Virginia,  he  is  said  never  to  have  left  his  district 
for  the  remainder  of  his  life.  He  died  June  28,  1836,  the 
last  of  the  signers  of  the  Constitution  to  join  "  the  silent 
majority." 

"Purity,  modesty,  decorum — a  moderation,  temperance 
and  virtue  in  every  thing,"  said  the  late  Senator  Benton, 
"  were  the  characteristics  of  Mr.  Madison's  life  and  manners." 


JAMES   MONROK. 

THE  fifth  President  of  the  United  States,  James  Monroe, 
was  born  in  April,  1758,  in  Westmoreland  County,  Vir- 
ginia, on  the  Potomac — a  region  remarkable  in   the  history 
of  the   country  as  the  birthplace  of  Washington,  Madison, 
and  of  the  distinguished  family  of  the  tees. 

He  was  educated  at  the  College  of  William  and  Mary, 
which  he  left  to  take  part  in  the  early  struggles  of  the  army 
of  Washington — a  cause  which  in  the  breast  of  Virginians 
superseded  all  ordinary  duties  and  occupations.  He  joined 


LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 


451 


the  American  forces  at  New  York  in  time  to  participate  in 
the  courageous  retreat  after  the  battle  of  Long  Island. 

He  was  in  the  action  at  Harlem  Heights  and  the  subse- 
quent battle  of  White  Plains,  and  in  the  retreat  through  the 
Jerseys.  His  company  was  in  the  van  of  the,,  battle  of 
Trenton,  where  he 
was  severely 
wounded.  He  was 
with  Lord  Stirling, 
acting  as  his  aid  in 
the  campaigns  of 
1777-78,  and  dis- 
tinguished himself 
at  Brandy  wine, 
Germantown,  and 
Monmouth.  In 
1780  he  was  spe- 
cially employed  by 
Governor  Jefferson 
to  visit  the  South- 
ern army  as  a  mili- 
tary commissioner, 
to  make  a  report 
upon  its  condition. 

In  1782  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Virginia  Legis- 
lature, and  shortly  promoted  by  that  body  to  a  seat  in  its 
executive  council.  In  June,  1783,  he'  was  chosen  member 
of  Congress,  and  sat  at  its  meeting  at  Annapolis  when  Wash- 
ington resigned  his  military  commission  at  the  close  of  the 
war. 


JAMES  MONROE. 


452  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

The  three  years'  service  of  Mr.  Monroe  in  Congress  closed 
in  1786.  During  that  term  he  married  Miss  Kortright,  a 
lady  of  New  York,  of  an  old  and  respectable  family  of  the 
State,  of  whose  personal  merits  John  Quincy  Adams  said  : 
"  It  were  impossible  to  speak  in  terms  of  exaggeration.  She 
was,  for  a  period  little  short  of  half  a  century,  the  cher- 
ished and  affectionate  partner  of  her  husband's  life  and 
fortune.  .  .  .  The  companion  of  his  youth  was  the  solace 
of  his  declining  years,  and  to  the  close  of  life  enjoyed  the 
testimonial  of  his  affection,  that  with  the  external  beauty  and 
elegance  of  deportment,  conspicuous  to  all  who  were  honored 
with  her  acquaintance,  she  united  the  more  precious  and 
endearing  qualities  which  mark  the  fulfillment  of  all  social 
duties,  and  adorn  with  grace  and  fill  with  enjoyment  the 
tender  relations  of  domestic  life." 

In  1787  he  was  returned  to  the  Assembly  of  Virginia. 
In  the  year  following  he  was  a  member  of  the  convention 
of  his  State,  called  to  decide  upon  the  acceptance  of  the 
Constitution.  In  1789  he  was  elected  to  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States  to  fill  the  vacancy  caused  by  the  death  of 
William  Grayson,  one  of  the  first  members  chosen.  He  con- 
tinued in  the  Senate  until  1794,  when  he  was  appointed  by 
Washington  minister  to  France,  contemporaneously  with 
Chief-justice  Jay  to  the  court  of  Great  Britain. 

He  was  recalled  in  1797,  and  succeeded  by  General  C. 
C.  Pinckney.  He  was  immediately  returned  to  the  Virginia 
Legislature,  and  soon  elected  governor  of  the  State,  holding 
the  office  for  the  constitutional  term  of  three  years.  Early 
in  1803  he  was  again  called  upon  by  the  President  to  pro- 
ceed to  France  as  minister  extraordinary  to  take  part  in 


LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS.  453 

the  negotiations  already  commenced  by  the  resident  minister, 
Robert  R.  Livingston,  for  the  purchase  or  cession  of  Loui- 
siana. Within  a  month  after  Monroe's  arrival  in  Paris,  the 
treaty  was  concluded,  ceding  Louisiana  to  the  United  States. 
A  more  advantageous  purchase  has  seldom  been  made  by  any 
nation,  and  the  successful  event  of  the  negotiation  was  the 
glory  of  Jefferson's  administration. 

Mr.  Monroe  went  from  Paris  to  London,  the  successor 
of  Rufus  King  as  minister  plenipotentiary  to  Great  Britain. 
He  immediately  entered  upon  his  duties,  and  was  busy  with 
the  open  maritime  questions  between  the  two  nations,  when 
he  was  called  by  President  Jefferson  to  proceed  to  Spain 
and  assist  Charles  Pinckney,  the  minister  to  that  court,  in 
the  negotiations  respecting  claims  for  damages  and  the  settle- 
ment of  the  disputed  Louisiana  boundary  question.  Though 
little  resulted  at  the  time  from  the  discussions,  the  diplo- 
matic papers  of  Monroe  remain,  in  the  language  of  John 
Quincy  Adams,  "  Solid  monuments  of  intellectual  power  ap- 
plied to  national  claims  of  right,  deserving  the  close  and 
scrutinizing  attention  of  every  American  statesman." 

In  1805  he  resumed  his  duties  in  London,  and  in  the 
question  of  England's  aggressions  upon  our  commerce,  was 
enabled  •  to  conclude  a  treaty  in  1807,  which,  although  not 
satisfactory,  was  the  best  obtainable  under  the  complicated 
difficulties  of  the  times,  when  England  had  her  war  interests 
to  maintain,  and  the  United  States  had  not  the  means  of 
enforcing  her  positions. 

Monroe's  next  public  office  was  governor  of  Virginia  for 
the  second  time,  in  1810 ;  and  toward  the  close  of  the  fol- 
lowing year  he  was  called  by  Madison  to  the  Secretaryship 


454  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

of  State.  He  continued  in  this  relation  during  the  remain- 
der of  Madison's  Presidency.  Monroe  was  called  to  the 
Presidency  in  1819  by  a  large  majority  of  the  electoral  vote. 
His  inaugural,  which  was  well  received  by  the  public,  intro- 
duced the  topics  of  a  new  era.  He  urged  measures  for  the 
national  defense,  and  favored  the  elements  of  national  pros- 
perity in  internal  improvements  and  home  manufactures. 
His  conciliatory  policy  looking  to  the  welfare  of  the  country 
was  evident. 

The  chief  events  of  Mr.  Monroe's  first  term  were  the  ad- 
mission of  Mississippi,  Illinois,  and  Alabama  as  new  States, 
and  the  important  cession  of  Florida  by  Spain,  in  1819, 
completing  the  work  of  annexation  commenced  in  the  pur- 
cha'se  of  Louisiana.  When  the  time  for  re-election  came 
around,  President  Monroe  was  again  chosen,  with  but  one  dis- 
senting vote,  that  of  New  Hampshire,  which  was  given  to 
John  Quincy  Adams. 

He  continued  to  pursue  a  liberal  policy  of  internal  im- 
provements within  the  limits  of  the  Constitution,  to  forward 
the  military  defenses  on  land,  and  the  growth  and  employ- 
ment of  the  navy  at  sea.  At  the  close  of  his  administra- 
tion, he  thus  took  leave  of  the.  public :  "  I  can  not  con- 
clude this  communication,"  ends  his  eighth  annual  message, 
"the  last  of  the  kind  which  I  shall  have  to  make,  without 
recollecting,  with  great  sensibility  and  heart-felt  gratitude, 
the  many  instances  of  public  confidence,  and  the  generous 
support  which  I  have  received  from  my  fellow-citizens  in 
the  various  trusts  with  which  I  have  been  honored.  Hav- 
ing commenced  my  service  in  early  youth,  and  continued  it 
since,  with  few  and  short  intervals,  I  have  witnessed  the 


LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS.  455 

great  difficulties  to  which  our  Union  has  been  exposed,  and 
admired  the  virtue  and  courage  with  which  they  were  sur- 
mounted." 

He  retired  from  Washington  to  a  temporary  residence  in 
Loudon  County,  where,  true  to  a  policy  of  usefulness  which 
had  governed  him  through  life,  he  discharged  the  duties  of 
justice  of  the  peace.  He  was  chosen  president  of  the  con- 
vention which  sat  to  revise  the  Constitution  of  Virginia,  in 
the  winter  of  1829—30,  but  ill  health  and  the  infirmities  of 
advanced  life,  compelled  him  to  resign  his  seat  before  the 
adjournment  of  that  body.  He  died  July  4,  1831,  "  the 
flickering  lamp  of  life  holding  its  lingering  flame  as  if  to 
await  the  day  of  the  Nation's  birth  and  glory." 


JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS. 

JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS,  sixth  President  of  the  United 
States,  was  born  at  Braintree,  Massachusetts,  in  that  part 
of  the  town  which  was  afterwards  set  off  and  incorporated 
by  the  name  of  Quincy,  llth  of  July,  1767. 

Mr.  Adams  was  favored  in  the  period  which  his  life  cov- 
ered, as  well  as  in  the  influences  under  which  it  commenced. 
His  history  runs  back  to  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution, 
embraces  its  trying  and  stimulating  experiences,  and  in- 
cludes the  entire  range  of  wonderful  events  which  were  ac- 
cumulated in  the  action  of  near  seventy  busy  years. 

At  the  age  of  eleven  he  accompanied  his  father  to 
France,  and  during  the  period  of  their  stay — about  eighteen 


456 


THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 


months — he  was  kept  in  a  French  school,  studying  the 
native  language,  with  the  usual  classical  exercises,  which 
were  nowhere  better  taught  at  that  time  than  in  the  insti- 
tutions of  Paris.  He  returned  in  1779,  but  in  three  months 
Congress  again  dispatched  his  father  to  Europe,  and  John 
Quincy  accompanied  him. 

Upon  this  trip  the  frigate  in  which  they  sailed  sprang  a 
leak,  in  a  gale   of   wind,  and  was  forced  to  vary  from  her 

port  of  destination, 
which  was  Brest, 
and  to  put  into  the 
port  of  Ferrol,  in 
Spain.  From  there 
they  traveled  to 
Paris ;  from  Paris 
to  Holland.  The  lad 
was  put  to  school  in 
Paris,  afterwards,  in 
Amsterdam,  and  fi- 
nally, in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Leyden. 
In  July,  1781, 
Francis  Dana,  who 
had  been  secretary 
to  the  embassy  of 
JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS  John  Adams,  was 

commissioned  plenipotentiary  to  Russia,  and  he  took  with 
him  John  Quincy  Adams,  then  at  the  age  of  fourteen,  as 
his  private  secretary. 

His  letters  from   St.  Petersburg   to   friends  in  America 


LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS.  .  457 

betray  a  marked  intelligence  and  power  of  observation  early 
awakened.  He  remained  in  Russia  with  Mr.  Dana  till  Oc- 
tober, 1782,  when  he  left  St.  Petersburg  and  returned  alone, 
through  Sweden",  Denmark,  Hamburg,  and  Bremen,  to  Hol- 
land, spending  the  winter  in  the  route,  and  stopping  some 
time  in  Stockholm,  Copenhagen,  and  Hamburg.  In  Holland 
he  remained  several  months,  till  his  father  took  him  from 
The  Hague  to  Paris,  where  he  was  present  at  the  signing  of 
the  treaty  of  peace,  in  September,  1783,  and  from  that  time 
to  May,  1785,  he  was  with  his  father  in  England  and  Holland, 
as  well  as  in  France.  At  London  he  had  rare  opportunities 
for  the  early  formation  of  the  future  statesman,  enjoying 
the  advantage  of  introductions  by  distinguished  members  of 
Parliament,  upon  the  floor  of  the  House,  and  listening  many 
times  to  the  eloquence  of  Burke,  Pitt,  Fox,  Sheridan,  and 
other  eminent  orators,  whose  great  talents  at  that  time 
adorned  the  British  nation. 

In  his  eighteenth  year  his  father  yielded  to  his  solicita- 
tions and  permitted  him  to  return  to  his  native  land.  He 
entered  Harvard  University  at  an  advanced  standing,  and  was 
graduated  Bachelor  of  Arts  in  1787  with  distinguished  honor. 
He  then  entered  the  office,  at  Newburyport,  of  the  cele- 
brated Theophilus  Parsons,  afterwards  chief-justice  of  Mas- 
sachusetts. Upon  completing  the  study  of  the  law,  he  en- 
tered the  profession,  and  established  himself  in  Boston.  He 
remained  there  four  years,  extending  his  acquaintance  with 
the  first  principles  of  law,  and  taking  part  in  the  important 
questions  which  then  engrossed  the  attention  of  the  people. 

In  April,  1793,  before  Washington  had  published  his 
proclamation  of  neutrality,  and  before  it  was  known  he  con- 


458  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

templated  doing  it,  Mr.  Adams  published  three  articles 
signed  "Marcellus,"  strongly  arguing  that  the  United  States 
ought  to  assume  such  a  position  in  the  war  then  begun  be- 
tween England  and  France.  In  these  papers  he  laid  down 
his  creed,  as  a  statesman,  in  two  great  central  principles,  to 
which  he  ever  afterwands  steadfastly  adhered,  namely: 
Union  among  ourselves,  and  independence  of  all  entangling 
alliance,  or  implication,  with  the  policy  or  condition  of  for- 
eign states.  In  the  winter  of  1793-94  he  published 
another  series  of  papers,  indicating  the  course  of  President 
Washington  in  reference  to  the  French  minister,  Genet. 

These  writings,  in  connection  with  Mr.  Adams's  previous 
career,  attracted  the  marked  regard  of  Washington,  and  in 
1794  he  was  appointed,  without  any  intimation  of  such  a 
design  to  him  or  his  father,  minister  of  the  United  States  to 
the  Netherlands.  It  appears  that  Mr.  Jefferson  recommended 
him  for  this  appointment.  For  a  period  of  seven  years — 
1794  to  1801 — he  was  in  Europe  on  diplomatic  missions  to 
Holland,  England,  and  Prussia. 

Just  before  Washington  retired  from  office,  he  appointed 
him  minister  plenipotentiary  to  Portugal.  On  his  way  to 
Lisbon  he  received  a  new  commission,  changing  his  destina- 
tion to  Berlin.  He  continued  there  from  November,  1797, 
to  April,  1801,  and  completed  an  important  treaty  of  com- 
merce with  Prussia.  At  the  close  of  his  father's  adminis- 
tration he  returned  home,  arriving  at  Philadelphia  in  Sep- 
tember, 1801. 

In  1802  he  was  elected  from  Boston  a  member  of  the 
Massachusetts  Senate,  and  soon  after,  by  the  Legislature,  a 
Senator  in  Congress  from  the  4th  of  March,  1803.  While 


LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS.  459 

Senator  he  was  appointed  professor  of  rhetoric  and  oratory 
at  Harvard  University,  and  his  lectures,  delivered  in  the  re- 
cesses of  Congress,  attracted  great  attention,  and  gathered 
crowded  and  admiring  audiences  in  addition  to  academical 
hearers.  They  were  subsequently  published  in  two  octavo 
volumes.  His  powers  of  elocution  were  pre-eminent.  He 
resigned  his  seat  in  the  Senate  in  1808.  In  1809  Madison 
sent  him  as  plenipotentiary  to  Russia. 

While  in  Russia  his  services  were  of  vast  importance, 
and  produced  effects  upon  our  foreign  relations  yet  felt 
most  beneficently.  By  his  instrumentality  the  emperor  of 
Russia  was  induced  to  mediate  for  peace  between  Great 
Britain  and  the  United  States,  and  President  Madison  named 
Adams  at  the  head  of  the  commissioners  sent  to  negotiate 
the  treaty  which  brought  the  war  of  1812  to  a  close.  This 
transaction  was  at  Ghent,  in  December,  1814.  Henry  Clay 
and  Albert  Gallatin  were  upon  the  same  commission.  After 
its  conclusion,  Adams  proceeded,  accompanied  by  them,  to 
London,  and  negotiated  a  convention  of  commerce  with 
Great  Britain.  He  was  then  appointed  minister  at  the  court 
of  St.  James. 

There  is  a  coincidence  here  worthy  of  note.  As  the 
father,  John  Adams  took  the  leading  part  in  negotiating  the 
treaty  with  England,  at  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  war, 
and  was  the  first  American  embassador  in  London  after  that 
event,  so  the  son  was  at  the  head  of  the  negotiators  who 
brought  the  second  war  with  Great  Britain  to  a  close,  and 
presented  his  credentials  as  the  first  American  embassador 
at  that  court  after  the  restoration  of  peace.  In  1817  he 
was  called  home  by  President  Monroe,  to  what  is  really 


460  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

the  second  office  in  the  government,  the  Secretaryship  of 
State. 

This  was  the  close  of  Mr.  Adams'  career  as  a  foreign 
minister.  It  was  perhaps  the  most  brilliant,  as  it  certainly 
was  the  most  varied  and  interesting,  portion  of  his  life.  His 
first  appointment  as  minister  was  conferred  upon  him  by 
Washington,  in  accordance  with  the  strong  recommendation 
of  Jefferson.  Madison,  during  his  whole  administration, 
committed  to  him  the  most  important  trusts ;  appointed  him 
to  represent  the  United  States  at  the  two  most  powerful 
courts  in  the  world,  St.  Petersburg  and  St.  James,  and  as- 
signed him  as  the  chief  of  that  distinguished  embassy  which 
arranged  the  treaty  of  Ghent.  The  encomium  which  Wash- 
ington pronounced  upon  him,  when  as  early  as  1797  he  de- 
clared him  "the  most  valuable  public  character  we  have 
abroad,  and  the  ablest  of  all  our  diplomatic  corps,"  is  but 
the  judgment  that  belongs  to  the  whole  long  period  of  his 
public  service  in  Europe. 

The  act  of  Mr.  Monroe  in  placing  him  at  the  head  of 
his  cabinet  met  with  the  fullest  approval  of  the  country. 
General  Jackson  gave  utterance  to  his  sense  of  approbation 
when  he  pronounced  Adams  "the  fittest  person  for  the 
office ;  a  man  who  would  stand  by  his  country  in  the  hour 
of  danger."  The  portfolio  of  State  was  held  by  Mr.  Adams 
during  the  whole  of  Monroe's  administration,  a  period  of 
eight  years ;  and  the  duties  were  discharged  with  such 
ability  and  success  as  greatly  increased  the  public  confi- 
dencein  him  as  a  statesman  and  patriot.  The  adjustment 
of  the  claims  of  Spain,  the  acquisition  of  Florida,  the  recog- 
nition of  the  South  American  Republics,  with  many  other 


LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS..  461 

important  issues  effected  by  his  talent  or  under  his  potent 
influence,  and  the  vast  amount  of  labor,  generally,  which  he 
expended  in  the  service  of  the  country,  are  matters  of  his- 
tory, and  we  would  gladly  enlarge  upon  them  did  space 
permit. 

In  the  presidential  election  of  1824  Mr.  Adams  was  one 
of  four  candidates.  As  no  one  of  them  received  a  majority 
of  the  electoral  vote,  the  election  was  thrown  into  the  House 
of  Representatives.  On  the  9th  February,  1825,  the  two 
branches  of  Congress  convened  together  in  the  hall  of  the 
House,  to  open,  count,  and  declare  the  electoral  vote.  An- 
drew Jackson  was  found  to  have  99,  John  Quincy  Adams 
84,  William  H.  Crawford  41,  and  Henry  Clay  37  votes.  In 
accordance  with  the  Constitution,  the  Senate  then  withdrew, 
and  the  House  remained  to  cast  ballots  till  a  choice  should 
be  made.  It  was  required  to  vote  by  States.  The  Consti- 
tution limited  the  election  to  the  three  candidates  who  had 
the  highest  electoral  vote ;  and  the  balloting  was  to  continue 
till  a  majority  of  the  States  had  declared  for  one  of  the 
three.  Mr.  Adams  having  received  as  many  popular  votes 
as  General  Jackson,  the  fact  that  the  latter  had  received  a 
larger  electoral  vote  did  not  have  so  much  influence  as 
'would  otherwise  have  belonged  to  it;  so  that  at  the  moment 
of  balloting  it  was  entirely  uncertain  which  would  be  suc- 
cessful. Thirteen  States  were  necessary  to  a  choice,  the 
whole  number  then  being  twenty-four.  The  ballots  were 
cast,  and  it  was  found  that  the  six  New  England  States, 
with  New  York,  Maryland,  Ohio,  Kentucky,  Illinois,  Mis- 
souri, and  Louisiana  (thirteen)  had  declared  for  John  Quincy 
Adams ;  and  he  was  therefore  duly  elected  President  of  the 


462  *  THE  VOTERS1  HAND-BOOK. 

United  States  for  four  years,  from  the  4th  March,  1825. 
Henry  Clay  was  instrumental  in  throwing  the  vote  of 
Kentucky  in  his  favor,  and  perhaps  the  votes  of  other 
States. 

"  His  administration,"  says  Edward  Everett,  "  was,  in  its 
principles  and  policy,  a  continuation  of  Mr.  Monroe's.  The 
special  object  which  he  proposed  to  himself  was  to  bind  the 
distant  parts  of  the  country  together,  and  promote  their 
mutual  prosperity  by  increased  facilities  of  communication." 
He  was  the  most  scholarly  and  best-informed  President  the 
American  people  had  ever  elected,  and  his  administration 
was  eminently  dignified,  moderate,  conciliatory  toward  for- 
eign powers,  and  wisely  regardful  of  the  future  welfare  of 
the  country.  There  were  many  elements  of  opposition  at 
work  against  a  re-election,  and  in  the  complicated  struggles 
of  the  times  there  was  no  chance  for  a  modest,  retiring  man, 
no  matter  what  his  abilities  might  be.  Adams  encountered 
a  full  measure  of  unpopularity,  not  for  what  he  had  either 
done  or  omitted,  but  in  response  to  the  clamor  of  those  who 
were  hungry  for  his  place,  and  who  were  not  scrupulous  as 
to  the  means  employed  to  satisfy  their  ambition.  He  retired 
to  Quincy,  to  the  home  recently  desolated  by  the  decease  of 
his  honored  father. 

But  there  was  still  something  for  him  to  do  in  the  serv- 
ice of  his  country.  He  was  elected  in  November,  1830, 
by  his  district  to  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  served 
in  this  capacity  for  more  than  sixteen  years.  He  was  the 
most  punctual  man  in  the  House,  always  on  the  alert,  cool, 
resolute,  even  pugnacious.  The  number  and  excellence  of 
speeches  he  made,  and  the  amount  of  really  good,  valuable, 


LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS.  463 

conscientious  work  he  performed  in  these  later  years  would 
be  a  sufficient  monument  to  his  fame  were  it  not  that  his 
previous  services  were  so  distinguished  and  so  infinitely  su- 
perior to  those  of  most  of  his  contemporaries. 

He  was  approaching  eighty,  but  still  in  the  exercise  of 
his  extraordinary  faculties,  when,  in  a  recess  of  Congress, 
walking  in  the  streets  of  Boston  in  November,  1846,  he  was 
stricken  by  paralysis,  from  which,  nevertheless,  he  recovered 
in  time  to  take  his  seat  in  Congress  early  in  the  session. 
The  House  rose  to  greet  him,  and  he  was  conducted  to 
his  chair  with  marked  honors.  He  continued  in  the  House 
another  year,  when  the  final  messenger  came,  on  Monday 
morning,  February  21,  1848.  After  passing  Sunday  in  har- 
mony with  his  elevated,  religious  life,  he  was  observed  to 
ascend  the  steps  of  the  Capitol  with  his  accustomed  alacrity. 
As  he  rose  to  address  the  Speaker  he  was  seized  by  a  re- 
turn of  paralysis  and  fell,  uttering,  "  This  is  the  last  of 
earth;  I  am  content."  He  was  taken,  as  the  House  ad- 
journed, to  an  adjacent  room,  where  he  lingered  over 
Washington's  birthday  to  the  23d,  when  he  died  in  the 
Speaker's  apartment,  under  the  roof  of  the  Capitol.  His  re- 
mains were  taken  to  Boston,  reposed  in  state  in  Faneuil 
Hall,  and  were  quietly  laid  by  the  side  of  his  parents  in  a 
grove  at  Quincy.  Thus  lived  and  toiled  and  died  "the  Old 
Man  Eloquent." 


464 


THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 


ANDREW  JACKSON. 

A  NDREW  JACKSON,  seventh  President  of  the  United 
jL\.  States,  was  born  hi  the  territory  now  known  as  Union 
County,  North  Carolina,  March  15,  1767.  His  father  died 
a  few  days  previous  to  his  birth,  and  having  left  no  means 

of  support  for  the 
family,  the  mother 
found  a  home  for 
herself  and  chil- 
dren with  a  bro- 
ther-in-law living 
just  over  the  line 
in  South  Carolina. 
Young  Jackson 
had  fair  advan- 
tages of  education, 
for  at  quite  an 
early  age  we  find 
him  at  an  academy 
at  Charlotte. 

It  is  said  to 
have  been  his  mo- 
ther's design  to 
prepare  him  for  the  calling  of  a  Presbyterian  clergyman. 
Such,  indeed,  might  well  have  been  his  prospects,  for  he  had 
a  nature  capable  of  the  service,  had  not  the  war  of  the  Revo- 
lution carried  him  in  quite  .a  different  direction.  In  1779 
came  the  invasion  of  South  Carolina,  the  ruthless  expedition 


ANDREW  JACKSON. 


LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS.  465 

of  Prevost  along  the  seaboard  preceding  the  arrival  of 
Clinton  and  the  fall  of  Charleston.  The  latter  event  oc- 
curred in  May  of  the  following  year,  and  Cornwallis  felt 
free  to  carry  out  his  plan  for  the  subjugation  of  the  country. 
Sending  Tarleton  before  him,  the  very  month  of  the  surren- 
der of  the  city,  the  war  of  devastation  was  carried  to  the 
border  of  the  State,  to  the  very  home  of  Jackson.  The  en- 
gagement at  the  Waxhaws  was  one  of  the  bloodiest  in  a  se- 
ries of  bloody  actions,  which  ended  only  with  the  final 
termination  of  hostilities.  It  was  a  massacre  rather  than  a 
battle,  and  American  blood  was  poured  forth  like  water. 
The  mangled  bodies  of  the  wounded  were  brought  into  the 
church  of  the  settlement,  where  the  mother  of  young  Jack- 
son, then  a  boy  of  thirteen,  with  himself  and  a  brother,  at- 
tended the  sick  and  wounded.  That  gory  bed  of  war,  con- 
secrated by  the  spot  where  his  father  had  worshiped,  and 
near  where  he  reposed  in  lasting  sleep,  summoned  the  boy  to 
his  baptism  of  blood. 

He  really  began  his  military  career  at  the  age  of  four- 
teen, and  was  soon  after  taken  prisoner,  together  with  an  elder 
brother.  During  his  captivity  he  was  ordered  by  a  British 
officer  to  perform  some  menial  service,  which  he  promptly 
refused,  and  for  this  he  was  severely  wounded  with  the 
sword  which  the  Englishman  disgraced.  He  was  educated 
for  the  bar,  and  began  practice  in  Nashville,  Tennessee,  but 
soon  relinquished  his  legal  pursuits  to  gain  a  name  in  arms. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  war  of  1812,  Congress  having 
voted  to  accept  fifty  thousand  volunteers,  Jackson  appealed 
to  the  militia  of  Tennessee,  when  twenty-five  hundred  en- 
rolled their  names  and  presented  themselves  ready  for  duty. 

30 


466  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

Jackson  was  their  leader  by  nature  as  well  as  by  choice. 
They  were  accepted,  and  ordered  to  Natchez  to  watch  the 
operations  of  the  British  on  the  lower  Mississippi. 

Not  long  after,  the  commander  received  orders  to  disband 
his  men,  as  their  services  were  no  longer  needed.  To  obey, 
he  foresaw,  would  be  an  act  of  great  injustice  to  his  follow- 
ers, besides  reflecting  dishonor  upon  the  country,  and  he  re- 
solved to  disobey.  He  accordingly  broke  up  his  camp  and 
returned  to  Nashville,  bringing  all  his  sick  with  him — whose 
wants  on  the  way  he  relieved  with  his  private  means — and 
there  disbanded  his  troops  in  the  midst  of  their  homes. 

After  a  short  interval  he  was  called  to  the  field  again, 
and  the  course  of  his  duty  was  marked  out  in  the  wild  con- 
tests of  Indian  warfare.  Here  for  years  he  labored  and 
fought  and  diplomatized,  with  the  most  consummate  wisdom 
and  undaunted  courage.  His  treaty  with  the  Creek  Indians 
on  the  "  Hickory  Ground  "  gave  him  the  familiar  sobriquet 
of  Old  Hickory,  but  he  was  quite  as  much  entitled  to  it  on 
account  of  his  strength  and  endurance.  The  crowning  glory 
of  his  whole  military  career  was  gained  at  the  battle  of  New 
Orleans ;  and  it  will  ever  illumine  one  of  the  brighest  pages 
of  American  history.  On  the  10th  of  December,  1814,  the 
British  army  under  Sir  Edward  Packenham  entered  the  out- 
let of  Lake  Borgne,  sixty  miles  north-east  of  New  Orleans. 
Four  days  afterward  a  flotilla  of  gun-boats  which  had  been 
placed  to  guard  the  lake  was  captured  tyy  the  British,  but 
not  till  a  severe  loss  had  been  inflicted  upon  the  captors. 

On  22d  of  December  Packenham's  advance  reached  the 
Mississippi,  nine  miles  below  New  Orleans.  On  the  night 
of  the  23d,  General  Jackson  sent  a  schooner  down  the  river 


LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS.  467 

to  bombard  the  British  camp,  while  at  the  same  time  he  and 
General  Coffee  advanced  with  two  thousand  Tennessee  rifle- 
men to  attack  Packenham's  camp  in  front.  After  a  bloody 
assault  Jackson  •  was  compelled  to  retire,  the  enemy  losing 
most  in  the  engagement.  On  the  following  day  Jackson  fell 
back  and  took  a  strong  position  along  the  canal,  four  miles 
below  the  city.  Packenham  advanced,  and  on  the  28th  can- 
nonaded the  American  position,  with  but  little  effect.  On 
New  Year's  day  the  attack  was  renewed.  The  heavy  guns 
of  the  British  had  been  brought  into  position;  but  the 
Americans  easily  held  their  ground,  and  the  enemy  was 
again  driven  back.  Packenham  now  made  arrangements  to 
lead  his  whole  army  in  a  grand  assault  upon  the  American 
lines. 

Jackson  was  prepared  for  him.  Earthworks  had  been 
constructed  and  a  long  line  of  cotton  bales  and  sand  bags 
thrown  up  for  protection.  On  the  morning  of  the  memorable 
8th  of  January,  the  British  advanced.  The  battle  began  by 
the  light  of  early  dawn  and  was  ended  before  nine  o'clock. 
Packenham  hurled  column  after  column  against  the  Ameri- 
can position,  and  every  column  was  hurled  back  in  death 
and  dismay.  The  Americans,  behind  their  breastworks, 
were  almost  entirely  secure  from  the  enemy's  fire,  while 
every  discharge  of  the  Tennessee  and  Kentucky  rifles  told 
with  awful  effect  upon  the  exposed  veterans  of  England. 
Packenham,  trying  to  rally  his  men,  was  killed  ;  General 
Gibbs,  second  in  command,  was  mortally  wounded;  General 
Keene  fell  disabled  ;  only  General  Lambert  was  left  to  call 
the  shattered  fragments  of  the  army  from  the  field.  Of  the 
British,  quite  seven  hundred  were  killed ;  fourteen  hundred, 


468  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

wounded  ;  five  hundred,  prisoners.  The  American  loss  was 
eight  killed  and  thirteen  wounded.  So  far  as  operations  by 
land  were  concerned,  this  was  the  close  of  the  war.  Jackson 
marched  into  New  Orleans  with  his  victorious  army,  and  was 
received  with  unbounded  enthusiasm. 

He  returned  to  his  home  in  Nashville;  but  in  1818  he 
was  again  called  upon  to  render  military  service  in  the  ex- 
pulsion of  the  Seminoles.  Eager  for  the  service,  he  sprang 
to  the  work  and  conducted  it  in  his  own  fashion,  "  taking 
the  responsibility "  throughout,  summoning  volunteers  to 
accompany  him  from  Tennessee  without  the  formality  of  the 
civil  authority,  advancing  rapidly  into  Florida  after  his  arri- 
val at  the  frontier,  capturing  the  Spanish  fort  of  St.  Marks, 
and  pushing  thence  to  the  Suwanee.  General  Mclntosh,  the 
half-breed  who  accompanied  his  march,  performed  feats  of 
valor  in  the  destruction  of  the  Seminoles.  At  the  former 
of  these  places,  a  trader  from  New  Providence,  a  Scotchman 
named  Arbuthnot,  a  superior  member  of  his  class,  and  a  pa- 
cific man,  fell  into  his  hands  ;  and  at  the  latter,  a  vagrant 
English  military  adventurer,  one  Ambrister.  Both  of  these 
men  were  held  under  arrest,  charged  with  complicity  in  the 
Indian  aggressions,  and  though  entirely  irresponsible  to  the 
American  commander,  were  summarily  tried  under  his  order 
by  court-martial  on  Spanish  territory,  at  St.  Marks,  found 
guilty,  and  executed  on  the  spot.  He  refused  to  receive  the 
reconsideration  by  the  court  of  its  sentence,  of  Ambrister, 
substituting  stripes  and  imprisonment  for  death.  He  was 
shot,  and  Arbuthnot  was  hung  from  the  yard-arm  of  his  own 
vessel  in  the  harbor.  The  remaining  event  of  the  campaign 
was  the  capture  of  Pensacola,  in  which  a  garrison  was  left. 


LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS.  469 

General  Jackson  was  the  first  governor  of  Florida,  ap- 
pointed by  President  Monroe  after  its  acquisition  by  the  Uni- 
ted States.  Previous  to  his  nomination  for  the  Presidency, 
he  had  been  judge,  major-general,  governor,  and  United  States 
Senator,  and  in  every  position  had  performed  acts  which 
were  famous  enough  to  be  talked  about  in  all  parts  of  the 
Union.  He  was  nominated  to  the  high  office  in  1824,  but 
there  were  four  candidates,  none  of  whom  had  a  majority 
of  the  electoral  vote;  consequently  the  election  was  thrown 
into  the  House,  and  John  Quincy  Adams  was  chosen.  In 
1828  Jackson  was  again  nominated,  and  was  triumphant. 
In  1832  he  was  re-elected  by  a  very  large  majority. 

The  record  of  these  eight  years  of  his  presidential  ser- 
vice is  the  real  beginning  of  a  new  history  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party;  of  the  exertions  of  its  most  distinguished 
representatives;  of  the  establishment  of  its  most  cherished 
principles — its  anti-bank  creed  in  the  overthrow  of  the 
United  States  Bank,  and  the  origination  of  the  sub-treasury 
system,  which  went  into  operation  with  his  successor;  the 
reduction  of  the  tariff;  the  opposition  to  internal  improve- 
ments ;  the  payment  of  the  national  debt.  In  addition  to 
the  settlement  of  these  long-agitated  questions,  his  admin- 
istrations were  signalized  by  the  removal  of  the  Cherokees 
from  Georgia  and  the  Creeks  from  Florida;  while  their  for- 
eign policy  was  candid  and  vigorous,  bringing  to  a  satisfactory 
adjustment  the  outstanding  claims  upon  France  and  other 
nations,  and  maintaining  friendly  relations  with  England. 
In  all  these  measures  the  energetic  hand  of  Jackson  was 
felt,  but  particularly  was  his  character  manifested  in  the 
general  conduct  of  the  bank  question,  the  collection  of  the 


470  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

French  indemnity,  and  the  enforcement  of  the  national  au- 
thority in  South  Carolina. 

General  Jackson's  love  of  the  Union  was  a  deep  and 
abiding  passion.  He  had  no  toleration  for  those  who  sought 
to  weaken  this  great  instinct  of  nationality.  No  sophism 
could  divert  his  understanding  from  the  plainest  obligation 
of  duty  to  the  whole  country.  He  saw  as  clearly  as ,  the 
subtlest  logician  in  the  Senate  the  inevitable  tendency  of 
any  argument  which  would  impair  the  allegiance  of  the 
people  to  the  central  authority.  "  The  Union  must  and  shall 
be  preserved  "  was  a  prime  article  of  his  creed,  but  he  little 
anticipated  at  what  cost  it  would  be  finally  sustained. 

He  has  passed  away,  but  his  record  is  enduring.  On 
the  8th  of  June,  1845,  this  child  of  the  Revolution,  this 
conqueror  of  the  implacable  savage,  this  savior  of  New  Or- 
leans, this  idol  of  his  party — an  old  man  of  seventy-eight, 
but  still  young  in  spirit,  closed  his  eyes  in  lasting  repose. 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN. 

MARTIN  VAN  BUREN,  eighth  President  of  the  United 
States,  was  born  at  Kinderhook,  New  York,  Septem- 
ber 5,  1782,  and  in  his  early  years  received  the  best  edu- 
cation that  could  then  be  obtained  in  the  schools  of  his  im- 
mediate vicinity.  Having  sufficiently  prepared  himself  for 
the  study  of  the  law,  he  entered  the  office  of  Francis  Syl- 
vester, where  he  remained  six  years.  He  adopted  the  legal 
profession  to  acquire  the  craft  of  statesmanship,  rather  than 
as  an  occupation. 


LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 


471 


In  1808  he  was  appointed  surrogate  of  Columbia  County. 
In  1812,  and  also  in  1816,  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the 
New  York  Senate.  In  1821  he  was  elected  a  Senator  of 
the  United  States.  In  1828  he  was  elected  governor  of 
New  York,  but  served  in  that  capacity  only  a  few  weeks. 
In  March,  1829, 
General  Jackson 
tendered  him  the 
State  portfolio  in 
his  cabinet,  which 
he  accepted  and 
held  for  two  years, 
when  he  resigned 
to  accept  the  ap- 
pointment of  min- 
ister to  England. 
When  his  nomina- 
tion to  this  latter 
office  was  submit- 
ted to  the  Senate — 
June  25,  1831— it 
was  rejected  by  the 
casting  vote  of  the 
Vice-president,  Mr. 
Calhoun,  and  Mr.  Van  Buren  was  recalled.  In  May,  1832, 
he  was  placed  in  nomination  for  the  Vice-presidency  and 
elected  by  a  large  vote. 

In  1836  he  was  nominated  and  elected  to  the  chief 
magistracy.  The  principal  measure  of  his  administration 
was  the  establishment  of  the  independent  sub-treasury,  by 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN. 


472  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

which  the  business  of  the  government  was  entirely  separ- 
ated from  the  affairs  of  the  people.  The  panic  of  1837  had 
followed  immediately  upon  the  close  of  Jackson's  adminis- 
tration, and  the  people  were  anxious  for  some  measure  of 
relief.  The  sub-treasury  failed  to  help  them. 

General  Harrison  was  elected  to  succeed  Mr.  Van  Buren 
in  1840,  when  he  visited  Europe.  Upon  his  return,  in  1848, 
he  was  nominated  for  the  Presidency  by  the  Free-Soil  party, 
but  did  not  receive  any  part  of  the  electoral  vote.  In  July 
24,  1862,  he  died,  at  the  ripe  age  of  eighty  years. 


WILLIAM    HENRY    HARRISON. 

WILLIAM  HENRY  HARRISON,  ninth  President  of 
the  United  States,  was  born  at  Berkeley,  Charles  City 
County,  Virginia,  February  9,  1773,  and  was  educated  at 
Hampden-Sydney  College.  He  was  designed  for  the  medical 
profession,  and,  indeed,  had  made  some  progress  in  acquiring 
a  knowledge  of  its  mysteries,  when  the  death  of  his  father 
changed  all  his  plans.  He  resolved  to  go  into  the  army,  and 
was  granted  by  Washington  an  ensign's  commission  in  the 
First  Regiment  U.  S.  Infantry,  which  was  stationed  at  Fort 
Washington,  the  present  site  of  Cincinnati.  The  battle  on 
the  Miamis  was  fought  August  20,  1794,  and  a  year  after 
brought  forth  its  peaceful  fruits  in  Wayne's  treaty  of  Green- 
ville, which  closed  the  war. 

Harrison  was  then  tw,enty-three.  He  had  won  the  rank 
of  captain,  and  was  placed  in  command  of  Fort  Washington, 
where  he  at  about  the  same  time  married  with  the  daughter 


LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 


473 


of  John  Cleves  Symmes,  whose  name  is  so  honorably  dis- 
tinguished as  the  founder  of  Cincinnati.  Shortly  thereafter 
President  Adams  appointed  him  secretary  of  the  North-west 
Territory,  then  under  the  government  of  St.  Glair.  After 
the  Territory  was  organized  and  entitled  to  a  delegate  in 
Congress,  in  1799,  Harrison  was  chosen  its  representative. 
Upon  the  division 
of  the  Territory  he 
was  withdrawn 
from  Congress  to 
discharge  the  du- 

Territory  of  Indi- 
ana, which  includ- 
ed the  present 
States  of  Indiana, 
Illinois,  Michigan, 
and  Wisconsin. 

At  the  battle  of 
Tippecanoe,  fought 
November  7, 1811, 
Harrison  gained 
great  renown  as  a  WILLIAM  HENRY  HARRISON. 

successful  commander  against  the  savages.  The  intelligence 
of  his  victory  was  received  throughout  the  country  with  a 
great  outburst  of  enthusiasm.  During  the  war  of  1812  he 
was  made  commander  of  the  North-western  Army  of  the 
United  States,  and  he  bore  a  conspicuous  part  in  the  leading 
events  of  the  campaigns  of  1812—13. 


474  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

In  1814  he  was  appointed,  in  conjunction  with  his  com- 
panions in  arms,  Governor  Shelby  and  General  Cass,  to 
treat  with  the  Indians  of  the  North-west,  at  Greenville ;  and 
in  the  following  year  he  was  placed  at  the  head  of  a  com- 
mission to  treat  generally  with  the  Indians.  In  1816  he 
was  elected  to  Congress  from  Ohio,  and  in  1818  was  elected 
to  the  United  States  Senate.  In  1828  he  was  appointed 
minister  plenipotentiary  to  Colombia,  but  was  recalled  upon 
the  accession  to  the  Presidency  of  General  Jackson. 

The  National  Whig  Convention  of  1836  nominated  him 
for  the  Presidency,  but  he  was  defeated  by  Van  Buren.  In 
1840  he  returned  the  compliment  with  interest,  receiving 
two  hundred  and  thirty-four  electoral  votes  against  sixty  for 
Van  Buren.  He  was  inaugurated  on  4th  March,  1841,  and 
on  the  4th  of  the  following  month  the  American  people  were 
bereaved  in  his  death.  His  last  words,  heard  by  his  phy- 
sician, but  spoken  as  if  addressed  to  his  successor,  are 
worthy  of  repetition :  "  Sir,  I  wish  you  to  understand  the 
true  principles  of  the  government.  I  wish  them  carried  out. 
I  ask  nothing  more." 


JOHN    TYLKR. 

JOHN  TYLER,  tenth  President  of  the  United  States  as 
the  constitutional  successor  of  President  Harrison,  was 
born  at  William sburg,  Virginia,  March  29,  1790.  At  the 
age  of  twelve  he  entered  the  College  of  William  and  Mary, 
whence  he  graduated  in  five  years.  Then  he  read  law,  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  at  nineteen ;  elected  to  the  Virginia 


LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 


475 


Legislature  at  twenty-two;  sent  to  Congress  at  twenty-six; 
governor  of  Virginia  at  thirty-five ;  United  States  Senator 
at  thirty-seven.  In  the  latter  office  he  firmly  supported  the 
administration  of-  Jackson,  voting  against  the  tariff  bill  of 
1828,  and  against  chartering  the  United  States  Bank. 

President  Harrison  had  called  a  special  session  of  Con- 
gress just  previous  to  his  decease,  and  after  Tyler's  succes- 
sion a  bill  for  the 
establishment  o  f 
"The  Fiscal  Bank 
of  the  United 
States  "  passed  both 
houses  and  was 
sent  to  the  Presi- 
dent for  signature. 
He  promptly  vetoed 
it.  To  meet  his  ob- 
jections some  modi- 
fi  cat  ions  were 
made,  but  he  again 
vetoed  the  bill. 
His  administration 
was  stormy,  and 
quite  unsatisfac- 
tory to  those  to 
whom  he  was  indebted  for  his  election  to  the  Presidency. 

In  February,  1861,  he  was  President  of  the  memorable 
Peace  Convention,  at  Washington.  Subsequently  he  was 
chosen  a  Senator  from  Virginia,  in  the  Confederate  Congress. 
He  died  on  the  18th  of  January,  1862,  at  Richmond. 


JOHN  TYLER. 


476 


THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 


JAMES  KNOX  POLK. 

TAMES  K.  POLK,  eleventh  President  of  the  United 
States,  was  born  in  Mecklenburg  County,  North  Carolina, 
November  2,  1795.  He  did  not  enjoy  the  best  advantages 
of  elementary  instruction,  and,  therefore,  had  arrived  at  the 
age  of  twenty  before  he  was  fully  prepared  to  enter  the 

University  of  North 
Carolina,  at  Chapel 
Hill.  Here  he  was 
very  studious,  and 
graduated  in  1818 
with  the  first  hon- 
ors of  his  class. 

He  read  law  with 
the  celebrated  Felix 
Grundy,  at  Nash- 
ville, Tenn.,  and 
was  admitted  to 
practice  in  1820.  In 
1825  he  was  elected 
to  Congress  from 
Tennessee,  and  was 
a  member  of  the 
JAMES  KNOX  POLK.  House  during  four- 

teen successive  years.  He  was  one  of  the  strictest  of  the 
strict  constructionists,  opposed  to  the  re-charter  of  the  Bank 
of  the  United  States;  to  a  protective  tariff;  to  internal 
improvements ;  to  all  enlarged  ideas  of  nationality.  He  was 


LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS.  477 

chairman  of  the  committee  of  Ways  and  Means  in  Jackson's 
administration,  and  at  the  sessions  of  1835-37  was  elected 
Speaker  of  the  House. 

In  1839  he  was  elected  governor  of  Tennessee,  and  while 
in  this  office  he  recommended  to  his  State  a  "well-regulated 
system  of  internal  improvements."  At  the  National  Demo- 
cratic Convention  held  at  Baltimore  in  1844,  he  was  nomi- 
nated for  the  Presidency,  and  received  the  vote  of  fifteen 
States  to  eleven  for  Clay,  giving  him  a  majority  of  the  elec- 
toral college  of  sixty-five. 

The  leading  events  of  his  administration  were,  the  ad- 
justment of  the  Oregon  question  with  England,  and  the 
war  with  Mexico.  One  of  the  results  of  the  war,  quite  un- 
anticipated, was  the  development  of  a  candidate  for  the 
Presidency  as  a  successor  for  Mr.  Polk,  and  another,  equally 
unlocked  for,  was  the  settlement  and  wonderful  develop- 
ment of  California. 

Little  more  than  three  months  after  his  retirement  from 
the  Presidency,  June  15,  1849,  Mr.  Polk  died,  in  the  fifty- 
fourth  year  of  his  age. 


TAYLOR. 

ZACHARY  TAYLOR,  twelfth  President,  was  born  in 
Orange  County,  Virginia,  November  24, 1784.  His  early 
education  was  limited.  In  1808  Jefferson  appointed  him  a 
lieutenant  in  the  Seventh  Infantry.  In  1812  he  was  with 
General  Harrison  in  the  West,  and  gained  credit  for  his  vig- 
orous defense  of  Fort  Harrison,  on  the  Wabash,  for  which 
President  Madison  conferred  upon  him  the  rank  of  major. 


478 


THE   VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 


He  was  employed  in  the  various  Indian  wars.  In  the 
Black  Hawk  War  of  1832  he  appeared  in  the  field  and  took 
an  active  part  as  colonel  in  the  concluding  battle  of  Bad 
Axe  River.  For  distinguished  services  in  the  Florida  war, 
in  1836,  he  was  rewarded  with  the  brevet  rank  of  brigadier 

general,  a  nd 
shortly  after 
with  the  chief 
command  in  the 
State.  He  re- 
mained in  Florida 
tilll840,whenhe 
was  assigned  to 
the  command  of 
the  South-west- 
ern division  of 
the  army,  with 
head-quarters  at 
Fort  J  e  s  s  u  p , 
Louisiana.  He 
was  ordered  to 
Texas  in  1845, 
and  in  March  of 
the  fo  How  ing 
year  was  directed  to  advance  to  the  Mexican  boundary,  the 
Rio  Grande. 

On  the  bank  opposite  Matamoras  he  built  Fort  Brown 
and  established  a  camp.  The  commander  of  the  Mexican 
forces  summoned  him  to  retire,  which,  of  course,  he  refused. 
A  few  days  thereafter  occurred  the  battle  of  Palo  Alto,  fol- 


ZACHARY  TAYLOR. 


LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS.  479 

4 

lowed  immediately  by  that  of  Resaca  de  la  Palma ;  and  in 
due  course  the  storming  of  Monterey  and  the  terrible  strug- 
gle at  Buena  Vista  added  fresh  laurels  to  the  victorious 
wreaths  of  General  Taylor. 

The  war  closed  in  1847,  settling  all  points  in  dispute 
between  this  country  and  Mexico.  In  the  following  year 
the  National  Whig  Convention  nominated  General  Taylor 
for  the  Presidency,  and  the  vote  of  the  electoral  college 
was  cast  for  him  to  the  number  of  one  hundred  and  sixty- 
three  against  one  hundred  and  twenty-seven  for  General 
Cass.  His  short  administration  was  moderate  in  tone,  char- 
acterized by  deliberation  and  sound  judgment,  and  his  death, 
after  he  had  held  the  office  but  fifteen  months,  was  univer- 
sally lamented.  He  died  at  the  executive  mansion  in  Wash- 
ington, July  9,  1850. 


MILLARD  FILLMORE,  thirteenth  President,  as  the 
constitutional  successor  of  President  Taylor,  deceased, 
was  born  in  Cayuga  County,  New  York,  January  7,  1800. 
The  limited  means  of  his  parents  denied  him  the  facilities 
for  education,  beyond  the  most  ordinary  rudiments,  and  from 
the  age  of  fifteen  to  nineteen  he  was  compelled  to  earn  his 
own  subsistence.  He  then  formed  the  acquaintance  of  Judge 
Wood,  at  Niles,  New  York,  who  very  generously  became  his 
patron,  took  him  into  his  office,  gave  him  the  use  of  a  fine 
library,  and  furnished  him  money  to  meet  necessary  expenses 
while  he  pursued  the  study  of  the  law. 

At  the  age    of  twenty-one   he   removed  to  Erie  County, 


480 


THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 


and  entered  a  law-office  in  Buffalo,  and  in  1823  he  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  and  began  practice  at  Aurora.  In  1828 
he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  New  York  Legislature ;  in 
1833  he  was  elected  to  Congress,  and  also  in  1836,  1838 
and  1841.  Although  re-nominated  by  the  Whigs  of  his  dis- 
trict, he  declined  further  re-election.  In  1847  he  was  chosen 

comptroller  of  New 
York,  and  com- 
menced his  new  du- 
ties at  Albany  at 
the  beginning  of 
1848,  but  before 
the  year  closed  he 
was  nominated  and 
elected  Vice-presi- 
dent. 

He  entered  upon 
the  Presidency  of 
the  Senate  in 
March,  1849.  It 
was  an  office  whose 
duties  he  was  well 
fitted  to  discharge, 
MILLARD  FJLLMORE.  and  he  left  behind 

him,  when  he  was  called  to  the  higher  station,  a  happy  im- 
pression of  his  moderation  and  urbanity.  On  9th  July,  1850, 
while  Congress  was  in  session,  the  sudden  death  of  General 
Taylor  devolved  upon  him  the  cares  and  responsibilities  of 
the  Presidency.  On  the  10th.  attended  by  a  committee  of 
the  two  Houses  and  the  members  of  the  late  President's 


LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS.  481 

cabinet,  the  oath  of  office  was  administered  to  him  in  the 
hall  of  Representatives. 

Under  President  Fillmore's  administration  the  boundary 
between  Texas  and  New  Mexico  was  adjusted,  California 
was  admitted,  Utah  Territory  was  organized,  and  the  Fugi- 
tive Slave  Law  was  enacted.  His  term  closed  in  March, 
1853.  The  following  year  he  made  a  tour  of  the  South,  and 
in  1855  visited  Europe.  In  1856  he  was  nominated  for  the 
Presidency  by  the  "American"  party,  but  received  the  vote 
of  only  the  single  State  of  Maryland.  He  died  in  1874. 


T^RANKLIN  PIERCE,  fourteenth  President,  was  born  at 
A  Hillsboro,  New  Hampshire,  November  23,  1804,  and  at 
an.  early  age  received  the  advantages  of  a  liberal  education. 
After  taking  the  collegiate  course  at  Bowdoin,  which  he  en- 
tered at  the  age  of  sixteen,  he  was  admitted  as  a  student  to 
the  office  of  Judge  Woodbury,  at  Portsmouth,  whence  he 
was  transferred,  at  the  expiration  of  a  year,  to  the  law 
school  at  Northampton,  where  he  remained  two  years,  and 
then  finished  his  studies  with  Judge  Parker,  at  Amherst. 
Although  his  rise  at  the  bar  was  not  rapid,  by  degrees  he 
attained  the  highest  rank  as  a  lawyer  and  advocate. 

In  1829  he  was  elected  to  represent  his  native  town  in 
the  State  Legislature,  where  he  served  four  years,  and  during 
the  last  two  was  Speaker.  From  1833  to  1837  he  was  a 
Representative  in  Congress,  and  was  then  elected  to  the 
United  States  Senate,  having  barely  reached  the  legal  age 

31 


482 


THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 


to  qualify  him  for  a  seat  in  that  body.  At  the  expiration 
of  his  senatorial  term  he  was  re-elected,  but  resigned  the 
following  year  to  devote  all  his  time  to  his  legal  practice, 
which  had  become  very  extensive. 

In  1846  he  declined  the  office  of  Attorney-general,  ten- 
dered by  President  Polk ;  but  when  war  with  Mexico  broke 

out  he  was  active 
in  raising  the  New 
England  regiment, 
and  afterwards  ac- 
cepted the  commis- 
sion of  brigadier- 
general,  and  at  once 
repaired  to  the 
scene  of  conflict, 
where  he  was  dis- 
tingished  in  sev- 
eral battles.  The 
Democratic  Con- 
vention at  Balti- 
more, in  1852, 
unexpectedly  nom- 
inated him  for  the 

FRANKLIN   PIERCE.  P  T  Q  S  1  d  6  n  C  y ,     to 

which  office  he  was  elected  by  a  large  majority. 

His  administration  was  marked  by  no  extraordinary 
events  of  foreign  or  domestic  policy,  except  the  revival  of 
the  slavery  agitation  in  the  passage  of  the  Kansas  and  Ne- 
braska Territorial  bill  in  1854,  setting  aside  the  geograph- 
cal  limit  imposed  by  the  compromise  of  1850.  At  the 


LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS.  483 

expiration  of  his  term,  March  4,  1857,  he  returned  to  New 
Hampshire  and  remained  in  private  life  to  the  end  of  his 
days,  October  8;  1869,  when  he  died  greatly  lamented. 


JAN1KS  BUCHANAN. 

JAMES  BUCHANAN,  fifteenth  Presidenf  of  the  United 
States,  was  born  at  Stony  Buttes,  Franklin  County, 
Pennsylvania,  April  23,  1791.  He  was  well  educated  from 
early  youth  till  his  entrance  upon  public  life.  At  the  age 
of  fourteen  he  entered  Dickinson  College,  at  Carlisle.  He 
received  his  degree  in  1809,  and  three  years  thereafter  was 
admitted  to  the  bar.  Applying  himself  diligently  to  his 
profession,  at  Lancaster,  he  early  acquired  a  lucrative 
practice. 

In  1814  he  began  political  life  as  a  member  of  the  Legis- 
lature of  Pennsylvania.  In  1820  he  was  sent  as  a  Representa- 
tive to  Congress,  where  he  remained  ten  years,  at  the  expira- 
tion of  which  period  he  declined  a  re-election.  In  1831  he  was 
appointed  minister  to  Russia,  by  President  Jackson,  of  whom 
he  was  always  the  consistent  friend  and  supporter,  and  with 
that  power  he  negotiated  a  commercial  treaty  which  proved 
of  great  advantage  to  American  commerce. 

In  December,  1834,  he  took  his  seat  in  the  Senate  of 
the  United  States,  and  continued  a  member  of  that  body  till 
1845,  when  he  accepted  the  State  portfolio  in  the  cabinet 
of  President  Polk.  He  held  this  responsible  position  till 
the  expiration  of  President  Polk's  term,  when  he  returned 
to  Lancaster.  But  he  did  not,  by  any  means,  become  an 


484 


THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 


idle  spectator  of  passing  events.  His  letters  and  speeches 
prove  that  he  was  no  less  vigilant  as  a  private  citizen  than 
as  a  counselor  in  the  cabinet  or  a  Representative  and  Sen- 
ator in  Congress. 

Upon  the  accession  of  Mr.  Pierce   to  the  Presidency,  in 
1853,  Mr.   Buchanan  was    appointed  minister  to   England. 

With  that  country 
questions  were  then 
pending  which  re- 
quired great  pru- 
dence and  discrimi- 
nation for  satisfac- 
tory adjustment.  In 
his  intercourse  with 
the  British  diplo- 
matists he  was  not 
only  discreet,  but 
displayed  sound 
sense,  courtly  for- 
bearance, a  just  as- 
sertion of  our 
rights,  and  the  true 
dignity  of  the 
JAMES  BUCHANAN.  American  character. 

So  entirely  unexceptional  was  his  whole  course  while 
abroad,  that,  on  his  return  to  this  country,  he  was  received 
with  an  almost  universal  enthusiasm  seldom  accorded  to 
political  men. 

In  June,   1856,  Mr.   Buchanan   was   nominated  for  the 
Presidency  by  the  National  Democratic  Convention  at  Cin- 


LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS.  485 

cinnati,  and  although  there  were  powerful  elements  arrayed 
against  him,  he  was  triumphantly  elected.  His  administra- 
tion was  eventful.  It  comprised  the  settlement  of  the 
Kansas  difficulties,  and  the  advent  of  secession.  Its  last 
year  was  devoted  to  preparation  for  the  impending  civil  war 
on  the  part  of  the  South.  In  December,  1860,  occurred  the 
secession  of  the  first  of  the  Southern  States.  Others  soon  fol- 
lowed in  the  same  course;  and  while  payment  of  customs 
was  refused,  the  national  flag  dishonored,  government  prop- 
erty seized,  and  the  crisis  fast  approaching,  Mr.  Buchanan 
held  that  he  had  no  power  to  coerce  a  State,  even  if  it  were 
in  rebellion.  His  embarrassment  was  extreme.  His  last 
months  in  office  were  distracted  with  such  troubles  as  had 
never  before  fallen  to  the  lot  of  a  chief  magistrate.  He  had 
neither  the  force  of  character  nor  the  political  principle 
requisite  for  such  an  emergency.  His  timid  conservatism 
was  blown  about  like  a  feather  in  the  premonitory  gusts  of 
the  coming  tempest.  He  was  seemingly  as  helpless  as  a 
child  in  the  midst  of  the  tremendous  complications  which 
were  breaking  around  him.  He  stood  trembling  while  the 
last  days  of  his  public  life  were  ebbing  into  the  receding 
gulf  of  the  American  Middle  Ages.  Of  the  courage  of  Jack- 
son he  had  as  little  as  of  the  prescience  and  heroic  patriot- 
ism of  his  great  successor. 

At  the  close  of  his  administration,  Mr.  Buchanan  retired 
to  his  home  at  Wheatland,  near  Lancaster,  Pennsylvania, 
where  his  remaining  years  were  spent  in  the  quiet  of  pri- 
vate life.  He  died  June  1,  1868. 


486 


THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 


LINCOLN. 

A  BRAHAM  LINCOLN  was  born  in  Larue  County  ^ 
JT\.  Kentucky,  February  12,  1809.  He  was  probably  de- 
scended from  the  Lincolns  of  Massachusetts,  though  his 
parents  were  of 
Quaker  stock,  and 
emigrated  from 
Pennsylvania  to 
RockinghamCoun- 
ty,  Virginia,  from 
which  his  grand- 
father, Abraham, 
removed  to  Ken- 
tucky in  1781. 

In  1816  his  pa- 
rents removed  to 
what  is  now  Spen- 
cer County,  Indi- 
ana, and  here 
young  Abraham 
enjoyed  a  few  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

months'  schooling.  It  was  the  only  duly  organized  school 
he  ever  attended.  Whatever  he  afterward  learned  from 
books  was  without  the  aid  of  the  school-master,  through 
his  own  energy  and  perseverance.  Poverty,  hardship,  and 
destitution  of  modern  social  advantages,  contributed  to 
strengthen  the  essential  elements  of  greatness  within  him. 
The  frame-work  of  his  mental  and  moral  being  was  honesty. 


LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS.  487 

In  1830,  just  as  he  had  completed  his  twenty-first  year, 
the  family  removed  to  Illinois,  and  opened  and  fenced  a  farm, 
ten  miles  west  of  Decatur,  in  the  county  of  Macon.  Abra- 
ham had  maste'red  the  science  of  rail-splitting  previous  to 
this  time,  and  here  his  accomplishment  was  more  practically 
applied  than  ever  before.  He  performed  a  full  quota  of 
labor  in  clearing  up  and  fencing  the  new  place.  His  life 
was  that  of  an  ordinary  youth  of  the  frontier  till  1832, 
when  the  Black  Hawk  War  broke  out.  He  immediately 
joined  a  volunteer  company,  composed  principally  of  the 
young  men  of  his  neighborhod,  and  was  chosen  captain  by 
acclamation.  He  had  about  him  the  elements  of  popularity 
and  those  traits  of  character  which  mark  the  leader,  and 
even  at  this  early  age  the  germ  of  a  superior  mind  was  dis- 
covered and  appreciated.  He  served  to  the  end  of  the  cam- 
paign, and  to  the  day  of  his  death  retained  ownership  of 
the  land  upon  which  his  warrants  for  this  service  were 
located. 

Immediately  upon  his  return  from  the  Black  Hawk  cam- 
paign he  was  nominated  for  membership  in  the  State  Leg- 
islature, but  was  defeated.  His  own  precinct,  however,  cast 
277  votes  for  to  7  against  him,  and  this,  too,  when  he  was  an 
avowed  and  enthusiastic  supporter  of  Mr.  Clay,  and  the 
same  precinct  at  the  election  one  year  thereafter  returned  a 
majority  of  115  for  General  Jackson  over  Mr.  Clay.  This 
is  the  only  time  that  Lincoln  ever  suffered  defeat  by  a  di- 
rect vote  of  the  people. 

He  read  law  with  such  diligence  that  in  1837  he  was 
enabled  to  form  a  co-partnership  with  Major  John  F.  Stuart, 
of  Springfield,  who,  at  that  date,  was  one  of  the  leading 


488  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

advocates  of  Illinois.  In  1834  Lincoln  was  elected  to  the 
Legislature,  and  re-elected  in  1838  and  1840.  He  soon  became 
a  prominent  leader  of  the  Whig  party,  and  was  upon  the 
electoral  ticket  in  several  presidential  campaigns.  In  1844 
he  canvassed  the  entire  State  of  Illinois  in  the  interest  of 
Mr.  Clay,  and  made  every  exertion  in  his  power  for  the  dis- 
tinguished favorite  of  his  party.  In  1846  Mr.  Lincoln  was 
elected  to  Congress,  and  took  his  seat  in  December,  1847, 
the  only  Whig  representative  in  the  National  House  from 
his  State. 

His  votes  and  speeches  from  this  time  were  invariably 
liberal — for  freedom  and  opposed  to  oppression  of  every 
kind ;  in  favor  of  internal  improvements ;  opposed  to  a  dec- 
laration of  war  against  Mexico,  but  in  favor  of  troops  and 
money  to  carry  on  the  contest  after  it  was  begun ;  in  favor 
of  protection  to  American  industry,  and  all  cognate  measures. 

In  June,  1858,  a  Republican  State  Convention  at  Spring- 
field placed  Mr.  Lincoln  in  nomination  for  the  United  States 
Senate.  Stephen  A.  Douglas  was  the  Democratic  nominee, 
and  a  man  of  more  than  ordinary  ability  was  wanted  to  meet 
him  on  the  stump.  The  nomination  of  Lincoln  under  these 
circumstances  was  something  more  than  a  compliment.  It 
was  not  the  voice  of  his  constituents  merely  saying,  "  We 
believe  you  a  man  of  sterling  talent,  unquestioned  integrity, 
and  brilliant  legislative  ability,  and,  therefore,  we  place  you 
in  nomination  for  this  great  office."  It  declared  with  em- 
phasis to  this  effect :  "  You  are  the  best  man  our  party  has 
among  all  the  distinguished  men  of  the  State  to  meet  a  po- 
litical casuist  who  has  no  superior  in  the  world;  who  is 
justly  entitled  the  Rienzi  of  the  American  foruin.  We  put 


LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS.  489 

you  forward  as  the  champion  of  our  principles  against  a 
master  of  political  strategy,  an  intellectual  giant,  and  heart- 
ily pray  for  your  victory." 

We  need  no't  make  lengthy  reference  to  the  contest 
which  ensued.  Its  fame  is  wider  than  the  country.  It 
was  a  series  of  the  most  wonderful  engagements  of  mind 
with  mind ;  of  the  most  versatile  and  interesting  debates  of 
a  vexed  question  it  was  ever  the  fortune  of  the  American 
people  to  hear;  comprising  the  most  daring  achievements  of 
logical  reasoning  and  forensic  pyrotechnics  that  ever  charac- 
terized a  similar  campaign.  The  result  was  a  senatorship 
for  Mr.  Douglas,  and,  substantially,  the  Presidency  for  Mr. 
Lincoln. 

At  the  National  Republican  Convention,  in  1860,  he  was 
nominated  a  candidate  for  the  Presidential  office,  and  tri- 
umphantly elected  over  three  rivel  candidates,  Breckenridge, 
Douglas,  and  Bell.  The  platform  of  the  convention  by 
which  Mr.  Lincoln  was  nominated  was  explicit  upon  the 
principles  and  objects  of  the  party.  The  highest  devotion 
was  expressed  for  the  Union,  but  there  seemed  to  be  an 
underlying  fear  that  the  Union  was  in  danger  of  attack  from 
the  opposing  party.  The  most  noteworthy  part  of  the  decla- 
ration was  contained  in  these  words  : 

"To  the  Union  of  the  States,  this  Nation  owes  its  un- 
precedented increase  in  population;  its  surprising  develop- 
ment of  material  resources ;  its  rapid  augmentation  of  wealth ; 
its  happiness  at  home  and  its  honor  abroad ;  and  we  hold  in 
abhorrence  all  schemes  for  "disunion,  come  from  whatever 
source  they  may;  and  we  congratulate  the  country  that  no 
Republican  member  of  Congress  has  uttered  or  countenanced 


490  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

a  threat  of  disunion,  so  often  made  by  Democratic  members 
of  Congress  without  rebuke,  and  with  applause,  from  their  po- 
litical associates ;  and  we  denounce  those  threats  of  disunion 
in  case  of  a  popular  overthrow  of  their  ascendency,  as  deny- 
ing the  vital  principles  of  a  free  government,  and  as  an  avowal 
of  contemplated  treason,  which  it  is  the  imperative  duty  of  an 
indignant  people  strongly  to  rebuke  and  forever  silence" 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  inaugurated  on  4th  March,  1861.  His 
inaugural  address  recommended  him  to  the  favorable  con- 
sideration of  all  reasonable  men,  as  well  as  to  the  highest 
regard  of  his  party.  He  counseled  conciliation  between  the 
sections,  but  so  far  as  the  effect  upon  the  South  was  con- 
cerned, he  might  as  well  have  counseled  war.  Substantially 
the  South  had  declared  war  already.  Their  leaders  had 
threatened  that  if  Lincoln  was  inaugurated  the  slave  States 
would  leave  the  Union — not  that  they  meant  this,  but  they 
imagined  that  a  terrible  threat  from  them  would  as  usual 
prove  effective.  They  had  ruled  Northern  doughfaces  so  long 
by  the  power  of  words  that  nothing  stronger  was  deemed  nec- 
essary ;  but  Mr.  Lincoln  had  been  inaugurated  notwithstand- 
ing, and  now  the  South  would  leave  us  to  fight  the  battle  of 
government  alone.  Not  quite.  There  was  power  and  deter- 
mination and  intelligent  foresight  in  the  new  administration, 
where  weakness,  timidity  and  misdirection  had  been  hoped 
for  by  Disunionists  and  their  sympathizers. 

But  we  could  not  part  company  with  the  Sunny  South. 
It  was  in  direct  opposition  to  the  genius  of  our  republican 
institutions  to  nurture  children  so  long  and  then  permit  them 
to  break  away  from  wholesome  restraint  and  go  incontinent 
to  the  dogs.  Four  years  of  bloody  war  was  waged  against  the 


LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS.  491 

government  by  the  Disunionists,  and  then  they  were  brought 
back  repentant  and  forlorn.  They  were  years  of  great  anx- 
iety and  immense  toil  to  the  great  and  good  President,  who, 
although  fully  conversant  with  the  forms  and  practices  of 
peaceful  government  when  he  came  to  the  office,  was  com- 
pelled to  learn  the  art  of  war;  the  means  for  raising  great 
armies  and  placing  over  them  effective  and  trustworthy  offi- 
cers; the  appliances  for  paying  this  immense  force,  and  the 
conduct  of  civil  affairs  in  a  way  which  would  best  adapt  them 
to  the  new  and  strange  conditions.  Through  it  all  President 
Lincoln  toiled  with  an  eye  single  to  the  best  good  of  the  whole 
country,  and  went  wearily  forward  to  his  fate.  "  With  malice 
toward  none,  with  charity  for  all,"  were  the  memorable  words 
of  his  address  at  the  second  inauguration,  on  4th  March, 
1865,  "with  firmness  in  the  right,  as  God  gives  us  to  see  the 
right,  let  us  strive  on  to  finish  the  work  we  are  in,  to  bind 
up  the  Nation's  wounds,  to  care  for  him  who  shall  have  borne 
the  battle,  and  for  his  widow  and  orphans  ;  to  do  all  which 
may  achieve  and  cherish  a  just  and  lasting  peace  among  our- 
selves and  with  all  nations." 

The  peace  that  seemed  so  desirable  to  him  when  these 
words  were  uttered  was  near  at  hand,  but  he,  alas !  was 
destined  to  enjoy  none  of  its  fruits.  General  Lee  surren- 
dered the  principal  rebel  army  to  Grant  on  the  9th  of 
April,  and  on  the  14th  President  Lincoln  was  assassinated 
by  John  Wilkes  Booth,  a  natural  son  of  the  Slavocratic 
rebellion.  That  so  good  a  life  should  go  out  into  the 
night  of  the  Unknown  by  the  hand  of  a  vulgar  desperado — 
who  was  simply  the  agent  of  a  plot  only  partially  ex- 
plored— is  grief  indeed ;  and  at  a  time  when  the  country 


492  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

and  the  world  were  ready  to  say,  "  Well  done,  good  and 
faithful  servant;  enter  thou  into  the  peace  and  joys  of  the 
kingdom !  " 

Hon.  James  G.  Elaine,  in  his  "  Twenty  Years  of  Con- 
gress," thus  refers  to  the  subject  of  our  sketch : 

"Mr.  Lincoln  was  calm  and  philosophic.  He  loved  the 
truth  for  the  truth's  sake.  He  would  not  argue  from  a  false 
premise,  or  be  deceived  himself  or  deceive  others  by  a  .false 
conclusion.  He  had  pondered  deeply  on  the  issues  which 
aroused  him  to  action.  He  had  given  anxious  thought  to 
the  problems  of  free  government  and  to  the  destiny  of  the 
Republic.  He  had  for  himself  marked  out  a  path  of  duty, 
and  he  walked  in  it  fearlessly.  His  mental  processes  were 
slower,  but  more  profound,  than  those  of  Douglas.  He  did 
not  seek  to  say  merely  the  thing  that  was  best  for  that 
day's  debate,  but  the  thing  which  would  stand  the  test  of 
time  and  square  itself  with  eternal  justice.  He  wished 
nothing  to  appear  white  unless  it  was  white.  His  logic  was 
severe  and  faultness.  He  did  not  resort  to  fallacy,  and 
could  detect  it  in  his  opponent,  and  expose  it  with  merciless 
directness.  He  had  an  abounding  sense  of  humor,  and 
always  employed  it  in  illustration  of  his  argument — never 
for  the  mere  sake  of  provoking  merriment.  In  this  respect 
he  had  the  wonderful  aptness  of  Franklin.  He  often 
taught  a  great  truth  with  the  felicitous  brevity  of  an  ^Esop 
fable.  His  words  did  not  flow  in  an  impetuous  torrent  as 
did  those  of  Douglas,  but  they  were  always  well  chosen, 
deliberate,  and  conclusive." 

Again,  he  says : 

"  Mr.  Lincoln  united  firmness  and  gentleness  in  a  singu- 


LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS.  493 

lar  degree.  He  rarely  spoke  a  harsh  word.  Ready  to  hear 
argument  and  always  open  to  conviction,  he  adhered  tena- 
ciously to  the  conclusions  which  he  had  finally  reached.  Al- 
together modest,"  he  had  confidence  in  himself,  trusted  to 
the  reasoning  of  his  own  mind,  believed  in  the  correctness 
of  his  own  judgment.  Many  of  the  popular  conceptions 
concerning  him  are  erroneous.  No  man  was  farther  than  he 
from  the  easy,  familiar,  jocose  character  in  which  he  is  so  often 
painted.  While  he  paid  little  attention  to  form  or  cere- 
mony, he  was  not  a  man  with  whom  liberties  could  be 
taken.  There  was  but  one  person  in  Illinois,  outside  of  his 
own  household,  who  ventured  to  address  him  by  his  first 
name.  There  was  no  one  in  Washington  who  ever  at- 
tempted it.  Appreciating  wit  and  humor,  he  relished  a  good 
story,  especially  if  it  illustrated  a  truth  or  strengthened  an 
argument,  and  he  had  a  vast  fund  of  illustrative  anecdote, 
which  he  used  with  the  happiest  effect.  But  the  long  list 
of  vulgar,  salacious  stories  attributed  to  him  were  retailed 
only  by  those  who  never  enjoyed  the  privilege  or  exchang- 
ing a  word  with  him.  His  life  was,  altogether,  a  serious 
one,  inspired  by  the  noblest  spirit,  devoted  to  the  highest 
aims.  Humor  was  but  an  incident  with  him,  a  partial  re- 
lief to  the  melancholy  which  tinged  all  his  years.  He  pre- 
sented an  extraordinary  combination  of  mental  and  moral 
qualities.  As  a  statesman,  he  had  the  loftiest  ideal,  and  it 
fell  to  his  lot  to  inaugurate  measures  which  changed  the 
fate  of  millions  of  living  men,  of  tens  of  millions  yet  to  be 
born.  As  a  manager  of  political  issues  and  master  of  the 
art  of  presenting  them,  he  has  had  no  rival  in  this  country, 
unless  one  be  found  in  Jefferson." 


494  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

He  speaks  in  the  highest  terms  of  his  executive  talent, 
his  superb  self-reliance,  the  wonderful  breadth  of  his  relig- 
ious toleration,  combined  with  his  reverence  and  his  painful 
sense  of  responsibility. 

' '  He  had  a  most  silver  flow 
Of  subtle-poised  counsel  in  distress 

Eight  to  the  heart  and  brain,  though  undescried, 
Winning  its  way  with  extreme  gentleness 

Through  all  the  outworks  of  suspicious  pride." 

A  recent  writer  furnishes  the  following  interesting  and 
discriminating  estimate  of  the  great  man : 

"  Whoever  shall  write  a  faithful  biography  of  Abraham 
Lincoln,  up  to  the  time  when  he  entered  upon  his  duties  as 
Chief  Magistrate,  will  make  an  invaluable  contribution  to 
American  history.  Besides  showing  the  healthy  unfolding 
from  youth  to  mature  manhood  of  one  of  the  richest  types 
of  American  character  which  this  Western  world  has  produced 
since  its  evolvement  from  barbarism,  such  a  work  must 
necessarily  set  forth  the  growth  and  development  of  what 
may  be  called  the  constitutional  side  or  phase  of  the  anti- 
slavery  agitation,  dating  from  the  time  nearly  fifty  years 
ago,  when  Abraham  Lincoln  and  Dan.  Stone  placed  upon  the 
legislative  records  of  Illinois  their  protest  against  pro-slavery 
legislation.  He  who  shall  tell  this  story  of  Lincoln's  life 
will  be  a  chronicler  worthy  of  a  crown  of  laurel. 

"When  that  story  is  told,  the  ignorant,  coarse,  bare- 
footed rail-splitter,  bearing  the  stamp  of  ignoble  birth,  the 
keen  backwoods  pettifogger,  the  joke  monger  of  the  cross- 
roads coterie,  the  '  Uncle  Abe '  who  had  a  mythical  popu- 
larity with  the  groundlings,  will  disappear;  and  in  place 


LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS.  495 

thereof  will  emerge  the  respectably  born  and  well-bred 
youth,  proud  and  self-containing  in  the  midst  of  poverty,  as 
dignified  in  every  respect  as  the  young  Washington,  never 
descending  in  all  the  years  of  youth  or  manhood  to  an  am- 
biguous action  or  an  ambiguous  policy ;  thoughtful,  stu- 
dious, ambitious,  energetic,  persistent;  availing  himself 
of  every  opportunity  (not  at  all  rare  in  Illinois  in  his  day) 
of  associating  with  the  gifted  in  mind  and  the  accom- 
plished in  manners ;  manifesting  at  the  very  entrance 
upon  his  majority  qualities  of  statesmanship  in  no  way 
unworthy  to  be  compared  to  those  of  the  younger  Pitt; 
early  trusted  by  the  people  with  their  confidence,  repaying 
that  confidence  with  never-failing  faithfulness  to  their  in- 
terests ;  and  through  nearly  thirty  years  of  mingling  in  pub- 
lic life,  ten  years  of  which  were  in  a  legislative  capacity, 
addressing  himself  with  clearness,  cogency,  and  unsurpassed 
eloquence  to  the  discussion  and  elucidation  of  important  is- 
sues of  civil  polity. 

"Abraham  Lincoln  was  one  statesman  in  a  thousand  in 
respect  of  never  having  changed  his  position  upon  the  politi- 
cal questions  of  his  day.  When  he  changed  from  the  Whig 
into  the  Republican  party — or  rather,  when  he  bridged  over 
the  chasm  from  a  moribund  to  a  formative  party,  by  carry- 
ing over  the  discussion  of  the  same  issues  he  had  for  years 
elucidated  by  his  statesmanlike  analysis  and  his  elevated 
eloquence — he  kept  his  record  intact.  The  slavery  question 
was  no  new  one  to  him;  and  the  issue  raised  by  the  Kansas- 
Nebraska  question,  therefore,  found  him  ready  to  meet  it  at 
every  point.  In  1854,  after  Mr.  Douglas  had  introduced 
his  celebrated  bill  for  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise, 


496  THE  VOTERS1  HAND-BOOK. 

Mr.  Lincoln  headed  the  movement  in  Illinois  against  the 
great  Democratic  senator  and  leader,  and  by  a  discussion 
equally  as  masterful  as  that  of  four  years  later,  laid  strong 
the  foundations  of  the  Republican  party. 

"Then  came  the  senatorial  canvass  of  1858,  in  which, 
according  to  the  popular  notion,  Mr.  Lincoln  first  manifested 
those  qualities  which  stamped  him  with  a  national  character. 
In  the  estimation  of  those  who  had  heard  him  during  the 
score  of  years  preceding  that  canvass,  there  were  many  of 
his  previous  efforts  that  surpassed  those  of  this  world-re- 
nowned debate.  As  one  evidence  in  support  of  this  asser- 
tion, reference  may  be  had  to  one  of  the  members  of  the 
present  Supreme  Bench  of  Illinois,  an  old  Whig  colleague 
of  Mr.  Lincoln's,  who  declared  as  his  deliberate  judgment, 
that  Mr.  Lincoln's  speeches  during  this  canvass  were  inferior 
to  those  he  had  delivered  during  any  political  season  in  his 
career.  While  Mr.  Lincoln's  efforts  that  day  were  but  con- 
sistent with  and  a  logical  sequence  of  all  he  had  ever 
uttered  on  the  slavery  question,  yet  they  were  unsatisfac- 
tory to  the  extremists  of  Northern  Illinois,  many  of  whom 
had  come  out  of  the  Democratic  party  and  had  defended  or 
apologized  for  slavery  while  Mr.  Lincoln  had  been  bearing 
testimony  against  it. 

"  It  was  the  very  fact  that  Mr.  Douglas  was  not  able,  at 
Freeport,  a  radical  stronghold,  to  induce  Mr.  Lincoln  to  vary 
one  hair's  breadth  from  the  position  he  had  maintained  in 
the  more  conservative  central  and  southern  portions  of  Illi- 
nois that  Mr.  Lincoln's  logical  triumph  lay  at  Freeport  (to- 
gether of  course,  with  the  fact  that  he  drew  out  the  damag- 
ing i  unfriendly  legislation'  admission  from  Douglas),  rather 


LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS.  497 

than  in  any  extra-masterful  dialectics  of  Lincoln  on  that  oc- 
casion. It  was  because  he  was  true  to  his  intellectual 
greatness,  and  had  that  moral  consistency  which,  united 
with  and  over  topping  pilitical  consistency,  made  him  equal 
to  the  supreme  occasion,  that  gave  him  the  advantage  over 
Douglas.  It  was  the  old  Lincoln  and  the  old  Douglas  pitted 
against  each  other  as  they  had  often  been  pitted  before, 
but  with  Douglas  off  his  guard  and  with  new  and  untried 
weapons,  or  at  least  in  a  new  armor.  This  is  the  secret  of 
Freeport. 

"  The  Cooper  Institute  speech  in  New  York  of  the  win- 
ter immediately  preceding  his  nomination  was,  although  one 
of  the  grandest  efforts  of  American  oratory,  but  the  cap- 
stone of  the  edifice  that  Lincoln  had  for  a  generation  been 
slowly,  deliberately,  studiously,  earnestly,  building — an  edi- 
fice of  character  and  genius  upon  which  the  fame  of  that 
great  man  should  eventually  rest,  rather  than  upon  the  acts 
of  a  period  during  which  he  was  hampered  by  annoying  and 
prejudical  circumstances,  which  tended  to  repress  or  deflect 
his  mighty  genius." 

Following  is  the  anti-slavery  protest  referred  to  in  the 
first  paragraph  of  the  foregoing  essay: 

MARCH  3,  1837. 

"Resolutions  upon  the  subject  of  domestic  slavery  having 
passed  both  branches  of  the  general  assembly,  the  undersigned 
hereby  protest  against  the  passage  of  the  same. 

"They  believe  that  the  institution  of  slavery  is  founded  on 
both  injustice  and  bad  policy ;  but  that  the  promulgation  of  aboli- 
tion doctrines  tends  rather  to  increase  than  abate  its  evils. 

"  They  believe  that  the  Congress  of  the   United  States  has  no 

32 


498  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

power,  under  the  Constitution,  to  interfere  with  the  institution  of 
slavery  in  the  different  States. 

"  They  believe  that  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  has  the 
power,  under  the  Constitution,  to  abolish  slavery  in  the  District 
of  Columbia  ;  but  that  the  power  ought  not  to  be  exercised  unless 
at  the  request  of  the  people  of  said  District. 

"  The  difference  between  these  opinions  and  those  contained  in 
the  said  resolutions,  is  their  reason  for  entering  this  protest. 

"  DAN.  STONE, 
"  A.  LINCOLN, 
11  Representatives  from  the  County  of  Sangamon." 


ANDRETW  JOHNSON. 

\  NDREW  JOHNSON,  seventeenth  President,  was  born 
IX  at  Raleigh,  North  Carolina,  December  29,  1808.  At 
the  age  of  ten  he  was  apprenticed  to  a  tailor,  and  worked 
at  that  business  in  South  Carolina  till  his  seventeenth  year. 
He  never  attended  school,  but  acquired  a  good  common  edu- 
cation by  studying  without  a  teacher. 

Having  removed  to  Greenville,  Tennessee,  he  was  chosen 
mayor  of  that  city  in  1830.  In  1835  he  was  elected  to  the 
State  Legislature,  and  to  the  State  Senate  in  1841.  In 
1843  he  was  elected  to  Congress,  and  served  ten  years  in 
the  House.  In  1853  he  was  elected  governor  of  Tennessee, 
and  re-elected  in  1855.  In  1857  he  was  elected  to  the 
United  States  Senate  for  the  term  ending  with  1863.  In 
politics  he  was  a  Democrat,  and  supported  Breckenridge  and 
Lane  in  the  presidential  election  of  1860.  At  the  outbreak 
of  the  rebellion  he  declared  for  the  Union  and  supported  the 


LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 


499 


measures  of  the  administration.  In  1862  President  Lincoln 
appointed  him  military  governor  of  Tennessee.  In  1864  he 
was  nominated  by 
the  National  Re- 
publican Conven- 
tion for  the  Vice- 
presidency  and 
duly  elected. 

Upon  his  acces- 
sion to  the  Presi- 
dency, consequent 
upon  the  assassina- 
tion of  President 
Lincoln,  the  war 
was  substantially 
closed,  and  the  work 
of  reconstruction, 
restoration,  and  the 
reduction  of  the 
great  military  and 
naval  force  then 
employed,  were  the  problems  of  his  administration.  His 
views  did  not  coincide  with  those  of  the  majority  in  Con- 
gress, and  his  administration  was  therefore  agitated  and 
stormy.  In  February,  1868,  articles  impeaching  the  Presi- 
dent passed  the  House,  and  the  Senate,  after  due  delibera- 
tion, resolved  itself  in  a  court,  and  tried  him  upon  these  ar- 
ticles. In  the  following  May  the  vote  was  taken  upon 
three  of  the  articles — there  were  eleven  in  all — and  resulted 
in  an  affirmative  vote  by  thirty-five  Senators  and  a  negative 


ANDREW  JOHNSON. 


500  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

of  nineteen.  As  two-thirds  was  required  to  convict,  he  was 
acquitted  upon  these,  and  the  vote  upon  the  remainder  was 
indefinitely  postponed. 

At  the  close  of  his  term  he  returned  to  his  home  in 
Tennessee,  to  again  mingle  in  the  political  contests  of  the 
State.  He  died  July  31,  1875. 


ULYSSES    SIMPSON    QRANT. 

TTLYSSES  SIMPSON  GRANT,  eighteenth  President,  was 
\J  born  at  Point  Pleasant,  Clermont  County,  Ohio,  April 
27,  1822.  His  early  youth  was  spent  at  his  native  place, 
and  he  acquired 'the  rudiments  of  an  English  education 
near  Georgetown,  in  Brown  County.  In  1839  he  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  military  academy  at  West  Point,  whence  he 
graduated  June  30,  1843.  It  is  said  he  exhibited  no  pecu- 
liar aptness  for  the  studies  at  West  Point,  but  that  what  he 
acquired  was  through  indefatigable  industry  and  hard  work. 
July  1,  1843,  he  entered  the  army  as  brevet  second- 
lieutenant,  and  was  attached  to  the  Fourth  Infantry.  He 
served  under  General  Taylor,  and  afterwards  under  General 
Scott,  in  the  Mexican  war.  For  gallant  and  meritorious 
conduct  at  the  battle  of  Chapultepec,  Lieutenant  Grant  re- 
ceived a  brevet  of  captain  in  the  regular  army,  to  date  from 
September  13,  1847,  and  a  full  commission  of  captain,  dat- 
ing from  August,  1853.  July  31,  1854,  Captain  Grant  re- 
signed his  commission  in  the  army,  settled  in  St.  Louis,  and 
engaged  in  commercial  pursuits  till  1859,  when  he  removed 
to  Galena,  Illinois. 


LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 


501 


Upon  the  breaking  out  of  rebellion  in  the  spring  of 
1861,  Grant  offered  his  services  to  the  country  through 
Governor  Yates, 
of  Illinois.  He ' 
was  appointed  on 
the  governor's 
staff  as  muster- 
ing officer  of  vol- 
unteers. June 
15,  1861,  the 
governor  a  p- 
pointed  him  to 
the  colonelcy  of 
the  Twenty-first 
Illinois  Regi- 
ment, and  on  the 
23d  of  the  fol- 


lowing August 
he  was  detailed 
from  the  com- 
mand of  this  regiment  and  appointed  a  brigadier-general  of 
United  States  volunteers,  with  rank  and  commission  from 
May  17,  1861. 

As  a  reward  for  his  skill  and  gallantry  during  the  cam- 
paigns in  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  he  was  promoted  to  the 
rank  of  major-general  of  volunteers,  to  date  from  the  sur- 
render of  Fort  Donelson,  February  16,  1862 ;  and,  after  the 
capture  of  Vicksburg,  he  was  made  a  brigadier-general,  and 
subsequently  a  major-general,  in  the  regular  army.  The 
Thirty-eighth  Congress  revived  the  rank  of  lieutenant-gen- 


ULYSSES  SIMPSON  GRANT. 


502  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

eral,  and  the  President,  after  the  passage  of  the  bill,  nomi- 
nated General  Grant  for  the  position.  This  nomination  was 
unanimously  confirmed  by  the  Senate  March  2,  1864,  and 
on  the  8th  of  the  same  month  the  general  arrived  in  Wash- 
ington, received  his  commission  from  the  hand  of  President 
Lincoln  on  the  9th,  and  on  the  10th  assumed  command  of 
the  armies,  with  "head-quarters  in  the  field."  April  9, 
1865,  he  received  the  surrender  of  General  Lee  and  the 
main  body  of  the  army  of  secession. 

His  successes  in  the  field  in  terminating  the  rebellion, 
with  the  good  sense  and  ability,  mingled  firmness  and  mod- 
eration, which  he  had  uniformly  displayed  as  a  leader  of 
events,  marked  him  as  the  inevitable  candidate  for  the 
Presidency  of  the  party  to  whom  had  fallen  the  conduct  of 
the  war ;  and  when  the  National  Republican  Convention 
met  at  Chicago  in  May,  1868,  he  was  unanimously  nomi- 
nated for  the  highest  office  in  the  gift  of  freemen.  He  was 
elected  by  the  vote  of  twenty-six  States,  and  by  a  popular 
majority  exceeding  three  hundred  thousand. 

His  administration  was  very  generally  in  accord  with 
the  action  of  Congress  and  the  prevailing  sentiment  of  the 
people.  Among  the  leading  features  of  its  domestic  policy 
was  the  gradual  restoration  to  the  South  of  its  privileges 
forfeited  by  the  necessities  of  war,  and  the  reduction  of  the 
public  debt ;  while  its  foreign  policy  secured  the  negotiation 
of  the  treaty  of  arbitration  with  England  for  the  settlement 
of  claims  arising  from  the  negligence  or  wrong-doing  of  that 
country  in  relation  to  certain  questions  of  international  law 
during  the  rebellion. 

In  1872  he  was   again  chosen  by  the  Republican   party 


LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS.  503 

as  their  canditate  for  the  Presidency,  and  this  time  received 
the  vote  of  thirty-one  States,  giving  him  a  popular  majority 
of  more  than  seven  hundred  and  fifty  thousand.  His  second 
administration  Was  conservative  and  conciliatory,  and  almost 
invariably  in  accord  with  Congress  and  the  people,  and  in 
1877  he  retired  with  the  general  commendation,  "Well  done, 
good  and  faithful  servant."  Shortly  thereafter  he  made  his 
great  trip  around  the  world,  and  was  everywhere  received 
with  distinguished  honor.  Recently  he  has  been  engaged 
in  business  in  New  York,  where  several  years  ago  he  took 
his  residence. 


RUTHKRKORD   BIRCHARD   HAYES. 

RUTHERFORD  B.  HAYES,  nineteenth  President,  was 
born  at  Delaware,  Ohio,  October  4, 1822.  He  received 
many  advantages  of  instruction  in  youth,  and  at  the  age  of 
sixteen  was  admitted  to  Kenyon  College,  at  Gambier,  Ohio, 
whence  he  graduated  in  1842,  at  the  head  of  his  class.  He 
chose  the  law  as  a  profession,  and  immediately  began  its  study 
in  the  office  of  Thomas  Sparrow,  at  Columbus.  Subse- 
quently he  took  a  course  in  the  Harvard  Law  School,  at 
Cambridge,  Massachusetts.  During  a  session  of  the  courts 
at  Marietta,  in  1845,  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  smd  pur- 
sued the  practice  of  law  at  Fremont,  Ohio,  for  about  four 
years. 

In  1849.  he  removed  to  Cincinnati,  where  he  enjoyed  a 
large  practice.  In  1858  he  was  appointed  city  solicitor  by 
council,  to  fill  a  vacancy.  He  accepted  this  position  with 


504 


THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 


much  reluctance,  but  so  well  did  he  perform  its  duties  that 
at  the  next  election  he  was  chosen  by  the  people  to  con- 
tinue the  exercise  of  its  functions  by  an  unprecedented 
majority. 

In  1861  he  entered  the  army  as  major  of  the  Twenty- 
third   Regiment   Ohio  Volunteers,  with   which  he  reached 

Clarksburg,  West 
Virginia,  July  27, 
1861,  where  the 
regiment  was  as- 
signed to  the  duty 
of  protecting  the 
Baltimore  &  Ohio 
Railroad,  and  de- 
fending the  border 
from  raids.  This 
duty  and  occas- 
sional  scouting  in 
the  neighborhood 
occupied  the  entire 
season  and  the  fol- 
lowing summer. 
Meanwhile  Hayes 
RUTHERFORD  B  HAYES.  had  been  promoted 

to  a  lieutenant-colonelcy,  and  in  August,  1862,  his  regiment 
was  added  to  General  J.  D.  Cox's  division  in  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac. 

The  battle  of  South  Mountain  was  fought  September  14, 
1862,  and  during  the  engagement  Colonel  Hayes's  arm  was 
shattered  by  a  grape-shot.  This  wound  kept  him  in  the 


LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS.  505 

hospital  several  weeks.  Late  in  the  season  he,  as  acting 
brigadier-general,  was  placed  in  command  of  the  Kanawha 
division  of  the  army,  to  which  the  Twenty-third  Ohio  was 
attached.  A  raiH  was  made  by  a  portion  of  his  force  in  the 
vicinity  of  Saltville,  and  many  miles  of  railway  destroyed. 
He  also  took  a  hand  in  the  interception  of  John  Morgan, 
as  he  was  attempting  to  leave  Ohio  by  crossing  the  river 
above  Pomeroy. 

Early  in  1864  the  battle  of  Cloyd  Mountain  was  fought; 
in  July  Lynchburg  was  attacked,  followed  by  the  battles 
of  Berryville,  Winchester,  and  North  Mountain — in  all  of 
which  General  Hayes  took  conspicuous  part.  In  fact,  he 
participated  in  all  the  subsequent  engagements  of  the  Shen- 
andoah  campaign,  and  was  brevetted  major-general  "for 
gallant  and  distinguished  services  during  the  campaigns  of 
1864  in  West  Virginia,  and  particularly  in  the  battles  of 
Fisher's  Hill  and  Cedar  Creek." 

In  1864,  while  yet  in  the  army,  he  was  elected  to  rep- 
resent the  Second  Congressional  District  of  Ohio,  in  the 
National  House.  He  refused  to  serve  till  all  the  fighting 
was  done  necessary  to  suppress  the  rebellion,  and  abided  by 
this  resolution ;  but  took  his  seat  at  the  opening  of  the  ses- 
sion of  1865-66.  He  was  re-elected  in  1866.  In  1867  he 
was  nominated  and  elected  governor  of  Ohio,  and  again  in 
1869.  In  1875  his  party  called  upon  him  once  more  to 
make  the  State  campaign,  and  for  the  third  time  he  was 
elected  to  the  gubernatorial  office. 

June  14,  1876,  he  was  nominated  by  the  National  Re- 
publican Convention,  at  Cincinnati,  for  the  Presidency,  and 
in  the  succeeding  election  the  vote  was  so  close  that  an 


506  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

electoral  commission  was  instituted  to  ascertain  the  rights 
of  opposing  candidates.  After  careful  investigation  of  all 
matters  in  dispute,  General  Hayes  was  declared  elected,  and 
he  was  duly  inaugurated  on  March  4,  1877. 

His  administration  was  distinguished  for  its  conciliatory 
tone,  its  ready  recognition  of  the  rights  of  those  recently 
in  arms  against  the  government,  and  a  determined  move- 
ment for  reform  in  the  civil  service.  At  the  expiration  of 
his  term  he  retired  to  his  home  at  Fremont,  and  has  not 
since  entered  public  life. 


JAMES   ABRAM    GARKIELD. 

JAMES  A.  GARFIELD,  twentieth  president,  was  born 
November  19,  1831.  Before  he  had  attained  his  sec- 
ond year  his  father  died,  leaving  the  mother  with  four 
children — the  eldest  but  ten  years — impaired  health,  and  a 
mortgaged  homestead.  Nevertheless,  she  resolved  to  suc- 
ceed, and  history  proves  the  heroism  of  her  exertions. 

Severe  toil  was  the  birthright  of  all  the  children,  and 
nobly  did  they  improve  it.  But  they  found  time  and  op- 
portunity to  acquire  the  rudiments  of  an  English  education, 
and  James  was  especially  fond  of  books.  His  spare  hours 
— few  enough  they  were — invariably  found  him  at  study. 
He  grew  up,  through  the  clearing,  the  corn-field,  the  tow- 
path,  and  the  log  school-house,  to  enter  college  in  1854. 
Here  he  remained  but  two  years,  but  they  were  well 
employed. 


LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 


507 


In  1859  he  was  elected  to  the  Ohio  Senate.  In  1861 
he  entered  the  army  as  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  Forty-sec- 
ond Ohio.  In  January,  1862,  a  force  under  his  command 
drove  Humphrey  Marshall  and  several  thousand  Confed- 
erates out  of  Kentucky.  For  this  service  he  was  made  a 


JAMES  ABRAM  GARFIELD. 


brigadier-general.  Through  his  entire  army  life  his  success 
was  proverbial,  and  when  he  finally  became  General  Rose- 
cran's  chief  of  staff,  his  judgment  and  advice  were  valued 
as  highly  as  the  counsel  of  any  officer  in  the  regular  army. 


508  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

In  1862  he  was  elected  to  represent  his  district  in  Con- 
gress, and  at  the  solicitation  of  many  friends,  President 
Lincoln  among  them,  he  consented  to  leave  the  army  and 
take  his  seat  in  the  House.  This  he  did  in  December, 
1863,  and  he  remained  a  member  of  Congress  for  sixteen 
years.  In  January,  1880,  he  was  unanimously  elected  by 
the  Ohio  Legislature  a  Senator  of  the  United  States,  but 
the  National  Republican  Convention  of  1880  nominated 
him  for  the  Presidency,  and  therefore  he  did  not  fill  the 
Senatorship. 

He  received  214  of  the  electoral  votes,  against  155  for 
his  opponent.  His  inaugural  address,  on  March  4,  1881, 
gave  promise  of  an  administration  of  great  vigor,  which 
would  bring  about  some  needed  reforms  and  greatly  im- 
prove the  civil  service.  His  cabinet  was  selected  with  rare 
judgment,  and  his  appointments,  so  far  as  they  were  made, 
gave  satisfaction  to  the  country.  He  had  the  affairs  of  the 
Nation  well  in  hand,  and  as  he  was  about  to  indulge  in  a 
short  vacation  for  needed  rest,  on  July  2,  1881,  he  was  shot 
down  by  a  vulgar  assassin,  and  died  from  his  wound  on  the 
19th  of  the  following  September.  No  death  was  ever  more 
heartily  mourned. 


CHESTKR    ALLAN    ARTHUR, 

/^HESTER  A.  ARTHUR,  twenty-first  President,  as  the 
V_y  constitutional  successor  of  President  Grarfield,  was  born 
in  Franklin  County,  Vermont,  October  5,  1830.  He  was 
educated  at  Union  College,  and  graduated  in  the  class  of. 


LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 


509 


'49.  In  1851  he  entered  the  office  of  Judge  E.  D.  Culver,  in 
New  York,  as  a  student  of  the  law.  After  admission  to  the  bar, 
he  met  with  great  success  in  the  practice  of  his  profession. 


CHESTER  ALLAN  ARTHUR. 


Previous  to  the  outbreak  of  the  rebellion,  he  was  judge- 
advocate  of  the  Second  Brigade  New  York  State  Militia, 
and  Governor  Morgan,  soon  after  his  inauguration,  selected 
him  as  engineer-in-chief  of  his  staff.  In  1861  he  held  the 
post  of  inspector-general,  and  soon  after  was  advanced  to 
that  of  quartermaster-general. 


510  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

It  was  through  General  Arthur's  efforts  and  influence 
that  Hon.  Thomas  Murphy  was  made  State  Senator  in  New 
York.  Upon  the  resignation,  by  the  latter,  of  the  collector- 
ship  of  the  port  of  New  York,  November  20,  1871,  Presi- 
dent Grant  nominated  General  Arthur  to  the  position,  and 
four  years  later,  when  his  term  expired,  renominated  him — 
an  honor  that  had  never  been  shown  to  any  previous  col- 
lector in  the  history  of  the  port.  He  was  removed  by  Presi- 
dent Hayes,  July  12,  1878,  despite  the  fact  that  two 
special  committees  made  searching  investigations  of  his  ad- 
ministration, and  both  reported  their  inability  to  find  any 
thing  upon  which  to  base  a  charge  against  him. 

Immediately  upon  his  removal,  President  Hayes  offered 
him  the  consul-generalship  at  Paris.  In  a  letter  acknowl- 
edging a  tender  of  the  office,  General  Arthur  expressed  his 
appreciation  of  the  compliment,  and  his  regret  that  his  pri- 
vate interests  were  in  such  a  condition  that  he  could  not  ac- 
cept it.  At  the  National  Republican  Convention,  at  Chicago, 
in  June,  1880,  he  was  nominated  for  the  Vice-presidency 
on  the  first  ballot,  by  the  vote  of  475  delegates  to  276  for 
eight  opposing  candidates.  His  letter  of  acceptance,  written 
on  the  fifteenth  of  the  following  month,  was  a  well-consid- 
ered document,  and  attracted  attention  for  the  large  grasp 
of  ideas  and  their  clear  expression.  Immediately  following 
the  death  of  President  Garfield,  General  Arthur  was  invested 
with  the  presidential  office,  and  assumed  his  new  duties  at 
once.  His  administration  has  been  vigorous  without  offense, 
and  thorough  without  radicalism.  Its  record  will  occupy  a 
desirable  page  in  the  annals  of  the  country. 


REPUBLICAN  PLATFORM. 


Unanimously  adopted  by  the  Convention  at  Chicago,  June  5, 1884 

THE  Republicans  of  the  United  States  in  National  Con- 
vention assembled  renew  their  allegiance  to  the  principles 
upon  which  they  have  triumphed  in  six  successive  presiden- 
tial elections,  and  congratulate  the  American  people  on  the 
attainment  of  so  many  results  in  legislation  and  administra- 
tion by  which  the  Republican  party  has,  after  saving  the 
Union,  done  so  much  to  render  its  institutions  just,  equal, 
and  beneficent,  the  safeguard  of  liberty,  and  the  embodi- 
ment of  the  best  thought  and  highest  purposes  of  our 
citizens. 

The  Republican  party  has  gained  its  strength  by  quick 
and  faithful  response  to  the  demands  of  the  people  for  the 
freedom  and  equality  of  all  men ;  for  a  united  Nation,  assur- 
ing the  rights  of  all  citizens ;  for  the  elevation  of  labor ;  for 
an  honest  currency ;  for  purity  in  legislation ;  and  for  integ- 
rity and  accountability  in  all  departments  of  the  govern- 
ment. And  it  accepts  anew  the  duty  of  leading  in  the  work 
of  progress  and  reform. 

We  lament  the  death  of  President  Garfield,  whose  sound 
statesmanship,  long  conspicuous  in  Congress,  gave  promise 
of  a  strong  and'  successful  Administration,  a  promise  fully 
realized  during  the  short  period  of  his  office  as  President  of 
the  United  States.  His  distinguished  services  in  war  and 
peace  have  endeared  him  to.  the  hearts  of  the  American 

511 


512  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

people.  In  the  Administration  of  President  Arthur  we  rec- 
ognize a  wise,  conservative,  and  patriotic  policy,  under 
which  the  country  has  been  blessed  with  remarkable  pros- 
perity ;  and  we  believe  his  eminent  services  are  entitled  to 
and  will  receive  the  hearty  approval  of  every  citizen. 

It  is  the  first  duty  of  a  good  government  to  protect  the 
rights  and  promote  the  interests  of  its  own  people.  The 
largest  diversity  of  industry  is  the  most  productive  of  gen- 
eral prosperity,  and  of  the  comfort  and  independence  of  the 
people.  We  therefore  demand  that  the  imposition  of  duties 
on  foreign  imports  shall  be  made,  not  for  revenue  only,  but 
that  in  raising  the  requisite  revenues  for  the  government 
such  duty  shall  be  so  levied  as  to  afford  security  to  our  di- 
versified industries  and  protection  to  the  rights  and  wages 
of  the  laborer  to  the  end  that  active  and  intelligent  labor,  as 
well  as  capital,  may  have  its  just  reward,  and  the  laboring 
man  his  full  share  in  the  national  prosperity.  Against  the 
so-called  economic  system  of  the  Democratic  party,  which 
would  degrade  our  labor  to  the  foreign  standard,  we  enter 
our  most  earnest  protest.  The  Democratic  party  has  failed 
completely  to  relieve  the  people  of  the  burden  of  unneces- 
sary taxation  by  a  wise  reduction  of  the  surplus.  The  Re- 
publican party  pledges  itself  to  correct  the  irregularities  of 
the  tariff  and  to  reduce  the  surplus,  not  by  the  vicious  and 
indiscriminating  process  of  horizontal  reduction,  but  by  such 
methods  as  will  relieve  the  tax-payer  without  injuring  the 
laborer  or  the  great  productive  interests  of  the  country. 

We  recognize  the  importance  of  sheep-husbandry  in  the 
United  States,  the  serious  depression  which  it  is  now  expe- 
riencing, and  the  danger  threatening  its  future  prosperity; 
and  we,  therefore,  respect  the  demands  of  the  representa- 
tives of  this  important  agricultural  interest  for  a  re-adjust- 


THE  REP  UBLICAN  PL  A  TFORM.  513 

ment  of  duties  upon  foreign  wool  in  order  that  such  indus- 
try shall  have  full  and  adequate  protection. 

We  have  always  recommended  the  best  money  to  the 
civilized  world,  and  we  urge  that  efforts  should  be  made  to 
unite  all  commercial  nations  in  the  establishment  of  an  in- 
ternational standard  which  shall  fix  for  all  the  relative  value 
of  gold  and  silver  coinage. 

The  regulation  of  commerce  with  foreign  nations  and  be- 
tween the  States  is  one  of  the  most  important  prerogatives 
of  the  General  Government,  and  the  Republican  party  dis- 
tinctly announces  its  purpose  to  support  such  legislation  as 
will  fully  and  efficiently  carry  out  the  constitutional  power 
of  Congress  over  inter-State  commerce. 

The  principle  of  the  public  regulation  of  railway  corpo- 
rations is  a  wise  and  salutary  one  for  the  protection  of  all 
classes  of  the  people,  and  we  favor  legislation  that  shall  pre- 
vent unjust  discrimination  and  excessive  charges  for  trans- 
portation, and  that  shall  secure  to  the  people  and  the  rail- 
ways alike  the  fair  and  equal  protection  of  the  laws. 

We  favor  the  establishment  of  a  National  Bureau  of 
Labor ;  the  enforcement  of  the  eight-hour  law ;  a  wise  and 
judicious  system  of  general  education  by  adequate  appro- 
priation from  the  national  revenues  wherever  the  same  is 
needed.  We  believe  that  everywhere  the  protection  of  a 
citizen  of  American  birth  must  be  secured  to  citizens  by 
American  adoption,  and  we  favor  the  settlement  of  national 
differences  by  international  arbitration. 

The  Republican  party,  having  its  birth  in  a  hatred  of- 
slave  labor  and  a  desire  that  all  men  may  be  truly  free  and 
equal,  is  unalterably  opposed  to  placing  our  workingmen  in 
competition  with  any  form  of  servile  labor,  whether  at  home 
or  abroad.  In  this  spirit  we  denounce  the  importation  of 

33 


514  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

contract  labor,  whether  at  home  or  abroad,  as  an  offense 
against  the  spirit  of  American  institutions,  and  we  pledge 
ourselves  to  sustain  the  present  law,  restricting  Chinese  im- 
migration, and  to  provide  such  further  legislation  as  is  neces- 
sary to  carry  out  its  purpose. 

Reform  of  the  civil  service,  auspiciously  begun  under 
Republican  administration,  should  be  completed  by  the  fur- 
ther extension  of  the  reform  system  already  established  by 
law  to  all  the  grades  of  the  service  to  which  it  is  applica- 
ble. The  spirit  and  purpose  of  the  reform  should  be  ob- 
served in  all  executive  appointments,  and  all  laws  at  variance 
with  the  object  of  existing  reform  legislation  should  be  re- 
peajed,  to  the  end  that  the  dangers  of  free  institutions 
which  lurk  in  the  power  of  official  patronage  may  be  wisely 
and  effectively  avoided.. 

The  public  lands  are  a  heritage  of  the  people  of  the 
United  States,  and  should  be  reserved,  as  far  as  possible, 
for  small  holdings  of  actual  settlers.  We  are  opposed  to  the 
acquisition  of  large  tracts  of  these  lands  by  corporations  or 
individuals,  especially  where  such  holdings  are  in  the  hands 
of  non-resident  aliens,  and  we  will  endeavor  to  obtain  such 
legislation  as  will  tend  to  correct  this  evil. 

We  demand  of  Congress  the  speedy  forfeiture  of  all 
land-grants  which  have  lapsed  by  reason  of  non-compliance 
with  acts  of  incorporation  in  all  cases  where  there  has  been 
no  attempt  in  good  faith  to  perform  the  conditions  of  such 
grants. 

•  The  grateful  thanks  of  the  American  people  are  due  to 
the  Union  soldiers  and  sailors  of  the  late  war,  and  the  Re- 
publican party  stands  pledged  to  suitable  pensions  for  all 
who  were  disabled  and  for  the  widows  and  orphans  of  those 
who  died  in  the  war.  The  Republican  party  also  pledges 


THE  REP  UBLIGAN  PL  A  TFORM.  515 

itself  to  the  repeal  of  the  limitation  contained  in  the  Arrears 
Act  of  1879,  so  that  all  invalid  soldiers  shall  share  alike 
and  their  pensions  begin  with  the  date  of  disability  and  not 
with  the  date  of  application. 

The  Republican  party  favors  a  policy  which  shall  keep 
us  from  entangling  alliances  with  foreign  nations,  and  which 
gives  us  the  right  to  expect  that  foreign  nations  shall  refrain 
from  meddling  in  American  affairs — a  policy  which  seeks 
peace  and  trade  with  all  powers,  and  especially  with  those 
of  the  Western  Hemisphere. 

We  demand  the  restoration  of  our  navy  to  its  old-time 
strength  and  efficiency,  that  it  may  in  any  high  sea  protect 
the  rights  of  American  citizens  and  the  interests  of  Ameri- 
can commerce.  We  call  upon  Congress  to  remove  the  bur- 
dens under  which  American  shipping  has  been  depressed,  so 
that  it  may  again  be  true  that  we  have  a  commerce  which 
leaves  no  sea  unexplored  and  a  navy  which  takes  no  law 
from  superior  force. 

Resolved,  That  the  appointment  by  the  President  to  of- 
fices in  the  Territories  should  be  made  from  the  bona  fide 
citizens  and  residents  of  the  Territories  wherein  they  are  to 
serve. 

Resolved,  That  it  is  the  duty  of  Congress  to  enact  such 
laws  as  shall  promptly  and  effectually  suppress  the  system 
of  polygamy  within  our  Territories,  and  divorce  the  political 
from  the  ecclesiastical  power  of  the  so-called  Mormon  Church, 
and  that  the  law  so  enacted  should  be  rigidly  enforced  by 
the  civil  authorities,  if  possible,  and  by  the  military,  if- 
need  be. 

The  people  of  the  United  States,  in  their  organized  cap- 
acity, constitute  a  Nation,  and  not  a  mere  confederation  of 
States.  The  National  Government  is  supreme  within  the 


516  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

sphere  of  national  duties,  but  the  States  have  reserved  rights 
which  should  be  faithfully  maintained,  and  which  should  be 
guarded  with  jealous  care,  so  that  the  harmony  of  our  sys- 
tem of  government  may  be  preserved,  and  the  Union  kept 
inviolate. 

The  perpetuity  of  our  institutions  rests  upon  the  main- 
tenance of  a  free  ballot,  an  honest  count,  and  correct  re- 
turns. We  denounce  the  fraud  and  violence  practiced  by 
the  Democracy  in  Southern  States,  by  which  the  will  of  the 
voter  is  defeated,  as  dangerous  to  the  preservation  of  free 
institutions;  and  we  solemnly  arraign  the  Democratic  party 
as  being  the  guilty  recipient  of  the  fruits  of  such  fraud  and 
violence. 

We  extend  to  the  Republicans  of  the  South,  regardless 
of  their  former  party  affiliations,  our  cordial  sympathy,  and 
pledge  to  them  our  most  earnest  efforts  to  promote  the  pass- 
age of  such  legislation  as  will  secure  to  every  citizen,  of 
whatever  race  and  color,  the  full  and  complete  recognition, 
possession,  and  exercise  of  all  civil  and  political  rights. 


NOMINATING  SPEECHES. 


I^HE   formal  nomination    of    James   Gr.  Elaine   for   the 

Presidency  of  the  United  States   was  made  by  Judge 

West,  of  Ohio,  at  Chicago,  June  5,  1884.  The  nominating 
address  is  as  follows  : 

"Gentlemen  of  the  Convention :  As  a  delegate  in  the  Chicago 
Convention  of  1860,  the  proudest  service  of  my  life  was 
performed  by  voting  for  the  nomination  of  that  inspired 
emancipator,  the  first  Republican  President  of  the  United 
States.  Four  and  twenty  years  of  the  grandest  history  in 
the  annals  of  recorded  time  have  distinguished  the  ascend- 
ency of  the  Republican  party.  The  skies  have  lowered ;  re- 
verses have  threatened  ;  our  flag  is  still  there,  waving  above 
the  mansion  of  the  Presidency ;  not  a  stain  on  its  folds,  not 
a  cloud  on  its  glory.  Whether  it  shall  maintain  that  grand 
ascendency  depends  on  the  action  of  this  great  council. 
With  bated  breath  the  Nation  awaits  the  result.  On  it  are 
fixed  the  eyes  of  twenty  millions  of  Republican  freemen  in 
the  North.'  On  it,  or  to  it,  are  stretched  forth  the  imploring 
hands  of  ten  millions  of  political  bondmen  in  the  South — 
while  above,  from  the  portals  of  light,  is  looking  down  the 
immortal  spirit  of  the  immortal  martyr  who  first  bore  it  to 
victory  and  bade  it  God  speed.  Six  times — in  six  campaigns — 
has  that  banner  triumphed.  That  symbol  of  union,  of  free- 
dom, of  humanity,  and  of  progress,  some  time  borne  by  that 
silent  man  of  destiny,  the  Wellington  of  American  arms, 

517 


518  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

Ulysses  the  Great — and  last  by  him  whose  untimely  taking- 
off  the  Nation  bewailed  and  wept  above  great  Garfield's 
grave: — shall  that  banner  triumph  again?  Commit  it  to  the 
bearing  of  that  chief,  the  inspiration  of  whose  illustrious 
character  and  great  name  will  fire  the  hearts  of  our  young 
men  and  stir  the  blood  of  our  manhood  and  fervid  veterans. 
The  close  of  the  seventh  campaign  will  see  that  holy  ensign 
spanning  the  sky  like  a  bow  of  promise.  Political  condi- 
tions are  changed  since  the  accession  of  the  Republican 
party  to  power.  The  mighty  issues  of  struggling  free- 
dom and  bleeding  humanity,  which  convulsed  the  continent 
and  racked  the  Republic,  united,  inspired  the  forces,  the  pa- 
triotism, and  the  force  of  humanity  in  one  consolidated  pha- 
lanx. These  great  issues  have  ceased  their  contention;  the 
subordinate  issues  resulting  therefrom  are  settled  and  buried 
away  with  the  dead  issues  of  the  past.  The  odds  of  a  Solid 
South  are  against  us.  Not  an  electoral  gun  can  be  expected 
from  that  section.  If  triumph  come,  the  North — the  Repub- 
lican States  of  the  North — must  furnish  the  conquering  bat- 
talion; from  the  farm,  the  anvil,  and  the  loom;  from  the 
mine,  the  workshop,  and  the  desk  ;  from  the  huts  of  the 
trapper  on  snowy  Sierra,  from  the  hut  of  the  fisherman  on 
the  banks  of  the  Hudson.  As  the  Republican  States  must 
furnish  this  conquering  battalion,  if  triumphant,  does  not  sound 
political  wisdom  dictate  and  demand  that  a  leader  shall  be 
given  to  them  whom  our  people  will  follow,  not  as  conscripts 
advancing  by  funeral  marches  to  certain  defeat,  but  a  grand 
civic  hero,  whom  the  souls  of  the  people  desire  to  serve — swell- 
ing the  lines  with  the  enthusiasm  of  volunteers  as  they  sweep 
on  and  onward  to  certain  victory  ?  In  this  contention  of  forces, 


NOMINATING  SPEECHES.  519 

to  whom  as  a  candidate  shall  be  intrusted  our  battle-flag? 
Citizens,  I  am  not  here  to — and  may  my  tongue  cleave  to 
the  roof  of  my  .mouth  if  I — abate  one  tittle  from  the  just 
fame,  integrity,  and  public  honor  of  Chester  A.  Arthur,  our 
President.  I  abate  not  one  tittle  from  the  just  fame  and 
Republican  integrity  of  George  F.  Edmunds ;  of  Joseph  R. 
Hawley,  of  John  Sherman,  of  that  grand  old  Black  Eagle  of 
Illinois ;  and  I  am  proud  to  know  that  these  distinguished 
Senators  whom  I  have  named  have  borne  like  testimony  to 
the  public  life,  the  public  character,  and  the  public  integrity 
of  him  for  whose  confirmation  they  voted  to  the  high  office, 
second  in  dignity  to  the  office  of  the  President  himself — 
the  first  premiership  in  the  administration  of  James  A.  Gar- 
field.  The  man  for  whom  these  Senators  and  rivals  will  vote 
for  Secretary  of  State  of  the  United  States  is  good  enough 
fort  he  plain  flesh-and-blood  God's  people  to  vote  for  for 
President.  Who  shall  be  our  candidate  ? 

"  Not  the  representative  of  a  particular  interest,  or  a  par- 
ticular class,  send  the  great  apostle  to  the  country.  Name 
the  doctors'  candidate,  the  lawyers'  candidate,  the  bankers' 
candidate,  the  Wall  Street  candidate,  and  the  hand  of  res- 
surrection  would  not  fathom  his  November  grave.  Sir,  he 
must  be  a  representative  o  f  American  manhood — a  repre- 
sentative of  that  leading  Republicanism  that  demands  the 
amplest  industrial  protection  and  opportunity  whereby  labor 
shall  be  enabled  to  earn  and  eat  the  bread  of  independent 
enjoyment,  relieved  of  mendicant  competition  with  pauper 
Europe  or  Pagan  Chinese.  He  must  be  a  representative  of 
that  Republicanism  that  demands  the  absolute  political,  as 
well  as  personal,  emancipation  and  disenthrallment  of  man- 


520  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

kind;  a  representative  of  that  Republicanism  which  recog- 
nizes the  stamp  of  American  citizenship  as  the  passport  to 
every  right,  privilege,  and  consideration  at  home  or  abroad, 
whether  under  the  sky  of  Bismarck,  under  the  palmetto,  un- 
der the  pelican,  or  on  the  banks  of  the  Mohawk — that  Re- 
publicanism that  regards  with  detestation  a  despotism  which 
under  the  "sic  semper  tyrannis"  of  the  Old  Dominion  anni- 
hilates by  slaughter  in  the  name  of  Democracy;  a  Repub- 
licanism that  is  embodied  and  stated  in  the  platform  of 
principles  this  .day  adopted  by  your  convention.  Gentle- 
men, such  a  Republican  is  James  G.  Elaine,  of  Maine." 

[The  immense  concourse  then  broke  out  into  great  and 
continued  applause,  continuing  nearly  half  an  hour.] 

"  Gentlemen  of  the  convention,  it  has  been  urged  that  in 
making  this  nomination  every  other  consideration  should 
merge  every  other  interest  be  sacrificed,  in  order  and  with  a 
view  exclusively  to  securing  the  Republican  vote  and  carrying 
the  State  of  New  York.  Gentlemen^  the  Republican  party 
demands  of  this  convention  a  nominee  who  has  inspiration, 
a  glorious  prestige  which  shall  gain  the  Presidency  with  or 
without  New  York ;  who  will  carry  the  Legislatures  of  the 
several  States  and  avert  the  sacrifice  of  the  United  States 
Senate ;  who  shall  sweep  into  the  tide  Congressional  dis- 
tricts sufficient  to  recover  the  House  of  Representatives  and 
restore  it  to  the  Republican  party.  Three  millions  of  Re- 
publicans believe  that  that  man  who,  from  the  baptism  of 
blood  on  the  plains  of  Kansas  to  the  fall  of  the  immortal 
Garfield,  in  all  that  struggle  of  manhood  and  progress 
wherever  humanity  desired  succor,  wherever  freedom  called 
for  protection,  wherever  the  country  called  for  a  defender, 


NOMINATING  SPEECHES.  521 

or  wherever  blows  fell  thickest  and  fastest,  there  in  the  fore- 
front of  the  battle  was  seen  to  wave  the  white  plume  of 
James  G.  Elaine,  our  Henry  of  Navarre. 

"Nominate  him,  and  results  of  a  September  victory  in 
Maine  will  be  re-echoed  back  by  the  thunders  of  the  Octo- 
ber victory  in  Ohio.  Nominate  him,  and  the  camp-fires  and 
beacon  lights  will  illuminate'  the  Continent  from  the  Golden 
Gate  to  Cleopatra's  Needle.  Nominate*  him,  and  the  mill- 
ions who  are  now  in  waiting,  will  rally  to  swell  the  column 
of  victory  that  is  sweeping  on. 

"  In  the  name  of  the  majority  of  the  delagates  from  the 
Republican  States,  and  their  glorious  constituencies  who 
must  fight  this  battle,  I  nominate  James  G.  Elaine,  of 
Maine."  [Great  and  long-continued  applause.] 

General  John  A.  Logan  was  named  for  the  presidential 
office,  at  Chicago,  June  5,  1884,  by  Senator  Shelby  M. 
Cullom,  of  Illinois.  The  Senator's  speech  is  herewith  re- 
produced : 

"  Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Convention :  Twenty- 
four  years  ago  the  Second  National  Convention  of  the  Re- 
publican party  met  in  this  city  and  nominated  its  first  suc- 
cessful candidate  for  President  of  the  United  States,  Abra- 
ham Lincoln.  Abraham  Lincoln  led  the  Republican  party 
to  its  first  great  victory,  and  stands  to-day  in  the  estimation 
of  the  world  as  the  grandest  figure  and  most  majestic  figure 
in  all  modern  time.  Again,  in  1868,  another  Republican 
convention  came  together  in  this  city,  and  nominated  as  its 
candidate  for  President  of  the  United  States,  another  emi- 
nent citizen  of  Illinois,  Gen.  Ulysses  S.  Grant,  and  the  Re- 


522  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

publican  party  was  again  victorious.  Still  again,  in  1880, 
the  Republican  party  turned  its  face  toward  this  political 
mecca,  where  two  successful  campaigns  had  been  organized, 
and  the  martyred  Garfield  led  the  Republican  hosts  to 
another  glorious  victory.  Mr.  President  and  fellow-citizens, 
it  is  good  for  us  to  be  here.  There  are  omens  of  victory 
in  the  air.  History  repeats  itself.  There  are  promises 
of  triumph  to  the  Republican  party  in  holding  its  national 
nominating  conventions  in  this  great  emporium  of  the 
North-west. 

"  The  Commonwealth  of  Illinois,  which  has  never  wavered 
in  its  devotion  to  Republican  principles  since  it  gave  to  the 
Nation — aye,  to  the  world — the  illustrious  Lincoln,  has  com- 
missioned me,  through  its  Republican  voters,  to  present  to 
this  convention,  for  its  consideration,  as  the  standard-bearer 
of  the  Republican  party,  another  son  of  Illinois,  one  whose 
name  will  be  recognized  from  one  end  of  this  land  to  the 
other  as  an  able  statesman,  a  brilliant  soldier,  and  an  honest 
man,  Gen.  John  A.  Logan,  of  Illinois. 

"  He  is  a  native  of  the  State  which  he  now  represents  in 
the  councils  of  the  Nation.  Reared  among  the  youth  of  a 
section  where  every  element  of  manhood  is  early  brought 
into  play,  he  is  eminently  a  man  of  the  people,  identified 
with  them  in  interest,  in  taste,  and  in  feeling,  and  enjoying 
their  sympathy,  respect,  and  confidence.  The  safety,  the 
permanency,  and  the  prosperity  of  the  Nation  depend  upon 
the  courage,  the  integrity,  the  intelligence,  and  the  loyalty 
of  its  citizens.  When  yonder  starry  flag  was  assailed  by 
enemies  in  arms,  when  the  integrity  of  the  Union  was  im- 
periled by  organized  treason,  when  the  storm  of  war  threat- 


NOMINATING  SPEECHES.  523 

ened  the  very  life  of  this  Nation,  this  gallant  son  of  the 
Prairie  State  resigned  his  seat  in  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States,  returned. to  his  home,  and  was  among  the  first  of 
our  citizens  to  raise  a  regiment,  and  to  march  to  the  front 
in  defense  of  his  country.  Like  Douglas,  he  believed  that 
in  time  of  war,  men  must  be  either  patriots  or  traitors,  and 
he  threw  his  mighty  influence  on  the  side  of  the  Union,  and 
Illinois  made  a  record  second  to  none  in  the  history  of 
States,  in  the  struggle  to  preserve  this  government. 

"  Among  the  large  number  of  the  brave  soldiers  of  the  late 
war,  whose  names  are  proudly  written  on  the  scroll  of  fame, 
none  appear  more  grandly  than  the  name  of  Logan.  His 
history  is  a  part  of  the  history  of  the  battles  of  Belmont,  of 
Donelson,  of  Shiloh,  of  Vicksburg,  of  Lookout  Mountain, 
of  Atlanta,  and  of  the  famous  March  to  the  Sea.  He  never 
lost  a  battle.  I  repeat  again,  Mr.  President  and  fellow-citi- 
zens, he  never  lost  a  battle  in  all  the  struggles  of  the  war. 
When  there  was  fighting  to  be  done  he  did  not  wait  for 
orders,  neither  did  he  fail  to  obey  orders  when  received. 
His  plume,  like  the  white  plume  of  Henry  of  Navarre,  was 
always  to  be  seen  at  the  point  where  the  battle  raged  the  hot- 
test. During  the  long  struggle  of  four  years,  he  commanded, 
by  authority  of  the  government,  first  a  regiment,  then  a  bri- 
gade, then  a  division,  then  an  army  corps,  and  finally  an  army. 
He  remained  in  the  service  until  the  war  closed,  when,  at 
the  head  of  his  army,  with  the  scars  of  battle  upon  him,  he 
marched  into  the  capital  of  the  Nation,  and,  with  the  brave 
men  whom  he  had  led  on  a  hundred  hard-fought  fields,  was 
mustered  out  of  service  under  the  very  shadow  of  the  Capi- 
tol building  which  he  had  left  four  years  before  as  a 


524  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

member  of  Congress,  to  go  out  and  fight  the  battles  of  his 
country. 

"  Then,  when  the  war  was  over,  and  gentle  peace,  which 
'hath  her  victories,'  returned,  he  was  again  called  by  his 
fellow-citizens  to  take  his  place  in  the  councils  of  the  Na- 
tions. In  a  service  of  twenty  years  in  both  Houses  of  Con- 
gress he  has  shown  himself  to  be  no  less  able  and  distin- 
guished as  a  statesman  than  he  was  renowned  as  a  soldier. 
Cautious,  prudent,  conservative  in  the  advocacy  of  measures 
involving  the  public  welfare,  ready  and  eloquent  in  debate, 
fearless — yes,  I  repeat  again,  fearless — in  defense  of  the 
rights  of  the  weak  against  the  oppressions  of  the  strong,  he 
stands  to-day — and  I  say  it  without  disposition  to  pluck  one 
laurel  from  the  brow  of  any  man  whose  name  may  be  pre- 
sented to  this  convention — I  say  he  stands  to-day  in  my 
judgment  closer  to  the  great  mass  of  the  people  of  this 
country  than  almost  any  other  man  now  engaging  public 
attention.  No  man  has  done  more  in  defense  of  those  prin- 
ciples which  have  given  life,  and  spirit,  and  victory  to  the 
Republican  party  than  has  John  A.  Logan,  of  Illinois.  In 
all  that  goes  to  make  up  a  brilliant  military  and  civil  career 
and  to  commend  a  man  to  the  favor  of  the  people,  he,  whose 
name  we  have  presented  here  to-night  has  shown  himself 
to  be  the  peer  of  the  best. 

"  We  ask,  you,  therefore,  to  give  him  this  nomination  be- 
cause he  would  not  be  assailed  and  he  is  not  assailable. 
We  ask  you  to  nominate  him  because  his  public  record  is  so 
clean  that  even  political  calumny  dare  not  attack  it.  We 
ask  you  to  nominate  him  in  behalf  of  the  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  brave  veteran  volunteer  soldiers  who  are  to-night, 


NOMINATING  SPEECHES.  525 

all  over  this  broad  land,  standing  around  the  telegraph 
offices  waiting  to  know  whether  that  gallant  leader  of  the 
volunteer  soldiers  of  this  country  is  to  receive  the  nomination 
at  your  hands.  We  ask  you  to  nominate  him  in  behalf  of 
the  white  and  black  Republicans  of  the  South  who  are  here 
by  the  hundreds  appealing  to  this  convention,  as  the  repre- 
sentative of  our  grand  old  party,  to  give  your  protection 
and  to  vindicate  them  in  their  rights  in  the  South. 

"  Now,  my  friends,  standing  in  the  midst  of  this  vast 
assembly  of  representative  citizens  of  this  grand  Republic — 
aye,  in  the  sublime  presence  of  the  people  themselves,  rep- 
resented here  to-night  in  all  their  majesty — we  offer  you 
the  name  of  a  tried  hero  and  patriot,  the  sagacious  and  in- 
corruptible statesman,  the  man  who,  as  we  all  know,  never 
sulked  in  his  tent;  we  offer  you  General  John  A.  Logan, 
of  Illinois,  and  ask  you  to  make  him  your  nominee.  If 
you  will  give  him  the  nomination  he  will  give  you  a  glori- 
ous victory  in  November  next;  and  when  he  shall  have 
taken  his  position  as  President  of  this  great  Republic  you 
may  be  assured  you  will  have  an  administration  in  the  in- 
terest of  labor,  in  the  interest  of  education,  in  the  interest 
of  commerce,  in  the  interest  of  finance,  in  the  interest  of 
peace  at  home  and  peace  abroad,  and  in  the  interest  of  the 
prosperity  of  this  great  people." 


No  speech  of  the  same  length  in  the  English  language 
ever  occasioned  such  a  furore  as  that  of  Hon.  Robert  G. 
Ingersoll  in  presenting  the  name  of  James  G.  Elaine  for  the 
presidential  nomination,  at  the  Cincinnati  convention  in 


526  THE  VOTERS1  HAND-BOOK. 

June,  1876.     It  is  in  persistent  demand  everywhere,  and  is 
herewith  reproduced  for  permanent  preservation : 

"Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  The  Republicans 
of  the  United  States  demand  as  their  leader  in  the  great 
contest  of  1876  a  man  of  intelligence,  a  man  of  well-known 
and  approved  political  opinions.  They  demand  a  statesman ; 
they  demand  a  reformer  after  as  well  as  before  the  elec- 
tion. They  demand  a  politician  in  the  highest,  broadest, 
and  best  sense — a  man  of  superb  moral  courage.  They 
demand  a  man  acquainted  with  public  affairs,  with  the 
wants  of  the  people ;  with  not  only  the  requirements  of  the 
hour,  but  with  the  demands  of  the  future. 

"  They  demand  a  man  broad  enough  to  comprehend  the 
relations  of  the  government  to  the  other  nations  of  the 
earth.  They  demand  a  man  well  versed  in  the  powers, 
duties  and  prerogatives  of  each  and  every  department  of 
this  government.  They  demand  a  man  who  will  sacredly 
preserve  the  financial  honor  of  the  United  States ;  one  who 
knows  enough  to  know  that  the  National  debt  must  be  paid 
through  the  prosperity  of  this  people ;  one  who  knows 
enough  to  know  that  all  the  financial  theories  in  the  world 
can  not  redeem  a  single  dollar ;  one  who  knows  enough  to 
know  that  all  the  money  must  be  made,  not  by  law,  but  by 
labor;  one  who  knows  enough  to  know  that  the  people  of 
the  United  States  have  the  industry  to  make  the  money, 
and  the  honor  to  pay  it  over  just  as  fast  as  they  make  it. 

"The  Republicans  of  the  United  States  demand  a  man 
who  knows  that  prosperity  and  resumption,  when  they 
come,  must  come  together ;  that  when  they  come  they  will 


NOMINATING  SPEECHES.  527 

come  hand  in  hand  through  the  golden  harvest  fields  ;  hand 
in  hand  by  the  whirling  spindles  and  the  turning  wheels ; 
hand  in  hand  past  the  open  furnace  doors ;  hand  in  hand  by 
the  chimneys  filled  with  eager  fire,  greeted  and  grasped  by 
the  countless  sons  of  toil. 

"  This  money  has  to  be  dug  out  of  the  earth.  You  can 
not  make  it  by  passing  resolutions  in  a  political  convention. 

"The  Republicans  of  the  United  States  want  a  man 
who  knows  that  this  government  should  protect  every  citi- 
zen, at  home  and  abroad ;  who  knows  that  any  government 
that  will  not  defend  its  defenders  and  protect  its  protectors 
is  a  disgrace  to  the  map  of  the  world.  They  demand  a  man 
who  believes  in  the  eternal  separation  and  divorcement  of 
Church  and  school.  They  demand  a  man  whose  political 
reputation  is  as  spotless  as  a  star ;  but  they  do  not  demand 
that  their  candidate  shall  have  a  certificate  of  moral  char- 
acter signed  by  a  Confederate  Congress.  The  man  who  has 
in  full-heaped  and  rounded  measure  all  these  splendid 
qualifications  is  the  present  grand  and  gallant  leader  of  the 
Republican  party — James  G.  Elaine. 

"  Our  country,  crowned  with  the  vast  and  marvelous 
achievements  of  its  first  century,  asks  for  a  man  worthy  of 
the  past  and  prophetic  of  her  future ;  asks  for  a  man  who 
has  the  audacity  of  genius ;  asks  for  a  man  who  is  the 
grandest  combination  of  heart,  conscience,  and  brain  beneath 
her  flag — such  a  man  is  James  G.  Elaine.  For  the  Repub- 
lican host,  led  by  this  intrepid  man,  there  can  be  no  defeat. 

"  This  is  a  grand  year — a  year  filled  with  recollections 
of  the  Revolution ;  filled  with  the  proud  and  tender  memo- 
ries of  the  past ;  with  the  sacred  legends  of  liberty — a  year 


528  THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 

in  which  the  sons  of  freedom  will  drink  from  the  fountains 
of  enthusiasm;  a  year  in  which  the  people  call  for  a  man 
who  has  preserved  in  Congress  what  our  soldiers  won  upon 
the  field;  a  year  in  which  they  call  for  the  man  who  has 
torn  from  the  throat  of  treason  the  tongue  of  slander — for 
the  man  who  has  snatched  the  mask  of  Democracy  from  the 
hideous  face  of  rebellion ;  for  this  man,  who,  like  an  intel- 
lectual athlete,  has  stood  in  the  arena  of  debate  and  chal- 
lenged all  comers,  and  who  is  still  a  total  stranger  to  defeat. 

"  Like  an  armed  warrior,  like  a  plumed  knight,  James 
G.  Elaine  marched  down  the  halls  of  the  American  Congress 
and  threw  his  shining  lance  full  and  fair  against  the  brazen 
foreheads  of  the  defamers  of  his  country  and  the  maligners 
of  his  honor.  For  the  Republican  party  to  desert  this  gal- 
lant leader  now  is  as  though  an  army  should  desert  their 
general  upon  the  field  of  battle. 

"  James  G.  Elaine  is  now,  and  has  been  for  years,  the 
bearer  of  the  sacred  standard  of  the  Republican  party.  I 
call  it  sacred  because  no  human  being  can  stand  beneath  its 
folds  without  becoming  and  without  remaining  free. 

"  Gentlemen  of  the  convention,  in  the  name  of  the  great 
Republic,  the  only  republic  that  ever  existed  upon  this  earth ; 
in  the  name  of  all  her  defenders  and  of  all  her  supporters; 
in  the  name  of  all  her  soldiers  living ;  in  the  name  of  all  her 
soldiers  dead  upon  the  field  of  battle,  and  in  the  name  of 
those  who  perished  in  the  skeleton-clutch  of  famine  at  An- 
dersonville  and  Libby,  whose  sufferings  he  so  vividly  remem- 
bers, Illinois — Illinois  nominates  for  the  next  President  of 
this  country  that  prince  of  parliamentarians — that  leader  of 
leaders — James  G.  Elaine." 


THE  VOTER'S  HAND-BOOK. 


529 


SUMMARY  OF  POPULAR  AND  ELECTORAL  VOTES 

For  President  and  Vice-president  of  the  United  States,  1789— 188O. 


Year  of  Election.. 

« 
P 

0 

3D 

r* 

1 

j 

| 

? 

M 

POLITICAL 
PARTY. 

*  PRESIDENTS. 

•VICE-PRESIDENTS. 

CANDIDATES. 

VOTE. 

CANDIDATES. 

Blec'ral  Vote. 

3 
o 

States  

Popular. 

Electoral. 

1789 

1792 
1796 

1800 

tio 

15 
16 

16 

73 

133 
138 

138 

Geoi'ge  Washington.... 

(fl 

John  Adams  

34 
» 
6 
6 
4 
3 
2 
2 
1 
1 
1 
4 

John  Jay  

R.  H.  Harrison  
John  Rutledge  

John  Hancock  

Geoi'ge  Clinton  

Samuel  Huntingdon.. 

Jolni  Milton  

James  Armstrong  

Bi'ijjaniiu  Lincoln  

Edward  Telfair  

Federalist.... 
Federalist..... 
Republican- 

Vacancies'.  

4 

George  Washington.... 

1<?> 

John  Adams      

77 
50 
4 
1 
3 

George  Clinton  
Thomas  Jefferson  

Aaron  Burr  

Federalist,... 
Republican- 
Federalist.... 
Republican.. 

Vacancies  

3 

John  Adams  

71 

Thomas  Jefferson  

68 
59 
30 
15 
11 
7 
5 
3 
2 
2 
2 
1 

Thomas  Piuckney  

Aaron  Burr  

Samuel  Adams  

Oliver  Ellsworth  

George  Clinton  

John  J;iy  

James  Iredell  

George  Washington... 

John  Henry  

S.  Johnson  

Charles  C.  Pinckney.. 

Republican.. 
Republican- 
Federalist.... 
Federalist.... 

Thomas  Jefferson  

ITS 

Aaron  Burr  

{73 
65 

64 

1 

John  Adams  

Charles  C.  Pinckney... 

John  Jay  

*  Previous  to  the  election  of  1804  each  elector  voted  for  two  candidates  for  President ; 
the  one  receiving  the  highest  number  of  votes,  if  a  majority,  was  declared  elected  Presi- 
dent; and  the  next  highest,  Vice-president. 

t Three  States  out  of  thirteen  did  not  vote,  viz.:  New  York,  which  had  not  passed  an 
electoral  law ;  and  North  Carolina,  and  Rhode  Island,  which  had  not  adopted  the  Con- 
stitution. 

t  There  having  been  a  tie  vote,  the  choice  devolved  upon  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives. A  choice  was  made  on  the  36th  ballot,  which  was  as  follows:  Jefferson — Georgia, 
Kentucky,  Maryland,  New  Jersey,  New  York,  North  Carolina,  Pennsylvania,  Tennessee, 
Vermont,  and  Virginia — 10  States;  Burr — Connecticut,  Massachusetts,  New  Hampshire 
and  Rhode  Island — 4  States ;  Blank — Delaware  and  South  Carolina — 2  States. 


530 


THE  VOTERS  HAND-BOOK. 


Summary  of  Popular  and  Electoral  Votes— Continued. 


Year  of  Election... 

|  No.  of  States  

Total  Elec'l  Vote. 

POLITICAL 
PAETY. 

PRESIDENTS. 

VICE-PRESIDENTS. 

CANDIDATES. 

VOTE. 

CANDIDATES. 

Elec'ral  Vote. 

States  

Popular. 

Electoral. 

1804 
1808 

1812 
1816 

1820 
1824 

1828 
1832 

1836 

17 
17 

18 
19 

24 
24 

24 
24 

26 

176 
17(i 

•218 
221 

2.'55 
2lil 

261 

288 

294 

Republican.. 
Federalist.... 

Republican.. 
Federalist.... 

rhoiiias  Jefferson  

IT) 

102 
14 

122 
•17 

Ueorge  Clinton  

162 
14 

113 
47 
9 
3 
3 
1 

131 

86 
1 

183 
22 
5 
4 
3 
4 

218 
8 
4 

1 
1 
3 

182 
30 
24 
13 
9 
2 
1 

171 
83 
7 

189 
49 
11 
7 
30 
2 

147 
77 
47 
23 

Charles  C.  Pinckney... 

2 

Rufus  King  

James  Madison  

1" 

George  Clinton 

Charles  C.  Pinckney.... 

6 

Kut'ns  Kiiui  

George  Clinton  

(i 

John  Liingdon  

James  M:idison  
James  Monroe  



Republican.. 
Federalist.... 

Vacancy..  

1 

James  Madison 

11 

128 
81) 
1 

Klbi'idge  Gerry  

De  Witt  Clinton... 

Jared  lngersoll 

Vacancy  

Republican.. 
Federalist.... 

James  Monroe. 

10 

18:; 

3-1 

D.  D.  Tompkins  
John  E.  Howaid  
James  Ross  

Kufus  King  

8 

John  Marshall  

Robert  G.  Harper  

Republican.. 
Opposition... 

4 

James  Monroe  

'M 

2,31 
1 

D.  D  Tompkins  
Richard  Stockton.... 
Diuiiel  Rodney  

John  Q,  Adams... 

Robert  G.  Harper  
Richard  Rush  

Republican.. 
Coalition  
Republican.. 
Republican.. 

Vacancies  . 

jj 

Andrew  Jackson  
John  Q.  Adams  

10 

8 
8 
8 

155,872 
105,321 
44.282 
4«,587 

*9!l 
84 
-11 
37 

John  C.  Calhoun  
Nathan  Santord.  
Nathaniel  Macon  
Andrew  Jackson  
M.  Van  Bureii  

Win.  H  Crawford  
Henry  Clay  

Henry  Clay  

Democratic.. 
Nat.  Repub.. 

Vacancy.   ..  . 

Andrew  Jackson  

15 
9 

647,231 
509,097 

178 
83 

John  C,  Calhoun  
Richard  Rush  

John  Q,.  Adams  ... 

William  Smith  

Democratic.. 
Nat.  Repub. 

15 
7 
1 
1 

687,502 
530,189 

33,108 

219 
49 
11 
7 

M  Van  Buren  

Henry  Clay  

John  Sergeant  

John  Floyd                 i 

Henry  Lee  

Anti-Mason 

William  Wirt  ) 

Amos  Ellmaker  
William  Wilkins  

Democratic.. 
Wliig. 

Vacancies..            

Martin  VimBuren  
Win.  H.  Harrison     1 

13 

7 
2 
1 
1 

761,549 
736,656 

17(1 
21 

n 
11 

R.  M.  Johnson  f  
Francis  Granger  
lohn  Tyler  

Whig  

Hugh  L.  While  1 
Daniel  Webster  [ 
W.  P.  Manguiu  ) 

Whig    

William  Smith  

Whig  

THE  VOTER'S  HAND-BOOK. 


531 


Summary  of  Popular  and  Electoral  Votes— Continued. 


Year  of  Election... 

No.  of  States  

:;_ 
H 

^" 
f 

POLITICAL 
PARTY. 

PKEMDENIS. 

VICK-PRESIDENIS. 

CANDIDATES. 

TOTE. 

CANDIDATES. 

Elec'ral  Vote. 

StntPH  

Popular. 

S 

? 
?_ 

284 
00 

1840 

1844 
1848 
1852 
1856 
1860 

1864 
1868 
1872 

1876 
1880 

28 

28 
aa 

81 

31 
88 

•:J6 

t-;7 
n 

88 
88 

..".U 

275 
•J'HI 
JOG 
-«m 
90S 

:i!4 
517 

:JC6 

:;>;:• 
.«<( 

Whig-  

Wm.  H.  Harrison  
Martin  Van  Buren  
James  G.  Birney  

19 

7 

1,275,017 
1,128.702 
7,059 

John  Tyltr  

234 

48 

Democratic  . 
Liberty  

R.  M.  Johnson  

L.  W.  Tazewell. 

11 
1 

170 
105 

Democratic.. 
Whig 

James  K.  Polk  

lo 
11 

1,337,243 
1,299,06S 
62,300 

1,360,101 
1,220,544 
291,263 

17H 
105 

James  K.  Polk  
Geo.  M.  Dallas  

Henry  Clay  

T.  Frelinghuysen  — 

Liberty  

Whig'.  
Democratic.. 
Free  Soil  

Democratic.. 
Wiiig 

James  G.  Birney  

Zachary  Taylor  
Lewis  Cass  
Martin  Van  Buren 

15 
15 

!(>•> 
127 

Millard  Fillmore  
Wm.  O.  Butler. 

168 
127 

C'has.  F.  Adams  ... 

Franklin  Pierce  

27 
4 

19 
11 

1 

17 
11 
8 

2 

•>2 
3 
11 

1,601,474 
1.SW.578 
106,149 

1,838,169 
1,341,264 
874,534 

1  ,806,352 
845,7(« 
589,581 
1,375,157 

2,216,067 
1,808,725 

L'54 
4'.' 

174 
114 

S 

INI 
72 
80 
12 

212 
21 

M 

Wm.  R.  King 

254 
42 

Winfield  Scott. 

Win.  A.  Graham  
Geo.  W.  Julian  

Free  Dem.... 

Democratic.. 
Republican. 

American.... 

Republican- 
Democratic.. 
Cons.  Union 
Ind.  Dein.... 

Republican.. 
Democratic- 
Republican.. 
Democratic- 
Republican. 
Dem.  &  Lib.. 
Democratic.. 
Temperance 

John  P.  Hale  
James  Buchanan  

J.  C.  Breckinridge.... 
Wm   Ij.  Dayton  

174 
114 
8 

180 
72 
39 
12 

212 
21 
81 

214 
80 
23 

286 
47 
5 
5 
3 
3 
1 
1 
1 
14 

185 
184 

John  C.  Fremont  

Millard  Fillmore  

Abraham  Lincoln  
J.  C.  Breckiuridse  
John  Bell  

A.  J.  Donelsou  

Hannibal  Hamlin... 
Joseph  Lsine  

Edward  Everett  
H.  V.  Johnson  

S.  A.  Douglas  

Abraham  Lincoln  
Geo.  B  McClellan  
Vacancies.  

Andrew  Johnson  
G.  H.  Pendletou  

Ulysses  S.  Grant  

2H 

8 
•1 

3,015,071 
2,709,613 

214 
Bb 

2;> 

Schuyler  Colfax  

Horatio  Seymour.  

F.  P.  Blair,  Jr  

Vacancies  

Ulysses  S.  Grant  
Horace  Greely  

31 
6 

3,597,070 
2,834,079 
29,408 

2.>»i 

Henry  Wilson  

B.  Gratz  Brown  

Charles  U'Conor  . 

Geo.  W.  Julian  

James  Black  

5,608 

'4.: 

1?5 
1 
I 

A.  H.  Colquitt  
John  M.  Palmer  
T.  E.  Bramlette  
W.  S.  Groesbeck  
Willis  B.  Maclien  
N.  P    Banks  

flios.  A.  Hendricks.... 
B.  Gratz  Brown  

Charles  J.  Jenkins  

Davi«l  Davis  

Republican.. 
Democratic.. 
Greenback... 
Prohibition. 

I  Not  Counted. 

17 

Rutherford  B.  Hayes.. 
Samuel  J.  Tilden  
Peter  Cooper  

L'l 

17 

4,033,950 

4,284,88.5 
81,740 

ls.5 
1S4 

Wm.  A.  Wheeler.... 
T.  A.  Hendricks  

Green  Clay  Smith. 

9,522 
2,636 

Scattering    

Republican. 
Democralic.. 
Greenback.... 

James  A.  Garfleld  
Winfleld  S.  Hancock- 
James  B.  Weaver  

19 
1!) 

4,449,053 
4,442,035 
307,306 
12,576 

•J14 

155 

Chester  A.  Arthur.  ... 
Wm.  H.  English  
B.  J.  Chambers  

214 
155 

Scattering  

*  Eleven  States  did  not  vote,  viz. :  Alabama.  Arkansas,  Florida,  Georgia,  Louisiana,  Missis- 
sippi, North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  Tennessee,  and  Virginia. 

'  Three  States  did  not  vote,  viz: :  Mississippi,  Texas,  iind  Virginia. 

I  Three  electoral  votes  of  Georgia  ca*t  lor  Hor-ice  Greely,  a  id  the  votes  of  Arkansas,  6,  and 
Louisiana,  8.  cast  for  U.  S.  (Jrant,  were  i ejected.  If  all  had  been  included  in  the  count,  the  elec- 
toral vote  would  have  been  300  for  U.  S.  Grant,  and  66  for  opposing  candidates. 


532 


THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 


POPULAR  VOTE  AT  THE  ELECTION  OF  1880  AND  1876. 


STATES. 

188O. 

1876. 

Hancock. 
Dem. 

Garfleld. 
Rep. 

Tilden. 
Dem. 

Hayes. 
.Rep. 

90,687 
60,489 
80,426 
24,647 
64,417 
15,183 
27,964 
102,522 
277,321 
225,528 
105,845 
59,789 
147,999 
65,310 
65,171 
93,706 
111,900 
131,300 
53,315 
75,7-50 
208,609 
28,523 
9,611 
40,794 
122,565 
534,511 
124,204 
340,821 
19,948 
407,428 
10,779 
112,312 
128,191 
156,228 
18,181 
127,976 
57,391 
114,634 

56,178 
41,661 
80,348 
27,450 
67,073 
14,150 
23,654 
52,648 
318,037 
232,164 
183,904 
121,520 
104,550 
37,994 
74,039 
78,515 
165,205 
185,190 
93,903 
34,854 
153,567 
54,979 
8,732 
44,852 
120,555 
555,544 
115,878 
375,048 
20,619 
444,704 
18,195 
58,071 
107,677 
57,845 
45,090 
84,020 
46,243 
144,397 

102,002 
58,071 
76,465 
By  Legis 
61,934 
13,381 
22,923 
130,088 
258,601 
213,526 
112,099 
37,902 
159,690 
70,508 
49,823 
91,780 
108,777 
141,095 
48,799 
112,173 
203,077 
17,554 
9,308 
38,509 
115,962 
521,949 
125,427 
323,182 
14,149 
366,158 
10,712 
90,906 
133,166 
104,755 
20,254 
139,670 
56,455 
123,927 

68,230 
38,669 
79,269 
lature. 
59,034 
10,752 
23,849 
50,446 
278,232 
208,011 
171,327 
78,322 
97,156 
75,135 
66,300 
71,981 
150,063 
166,534 
72,962 
52,605 
145,029 
31,916 
10,383 
41,539 
103,517 
489,207 
108,417 
330,698 
15,206 
384,122 
15,787 
91,870 
89,566 
44,800 
44,092 
95,558 
42,698 
130,668 

Florida  

Maine     

Michigan        

Minnesota     

Mississippi.    ••   

Missouri     

Nevada  

New  Hampshire     

New  Jersey   

New  York     

North.  Carolina     

Ohio    

Oregon,  

Pennsylvania    ... 

South  Carolina,   

Tennessee      .... 

Texas,  

Virginia      

Wisconsin     ........ 

Total,  

4,442,035 

4,449,053 
7,018 
,882 
,970 

4,284,757 
250,807 
93 
8,412 

4,033,950 

,298 
,605 

Plurality     

All  others     ....••... 

319 

9,210 

Total  vote      

THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 


533 


POPULAR  AND  ELECTORAL  VOTE  FOR  PRESIDENT,  1880. 


STATES. 

Garfield. 
Rep. 

Hancock. 
Dem. 

Weaver. 
Gr. 

Scat- 
tering. 

Total 
Popular 
Vote. 

Electoral  vote. 

Gar- 
field. 

Han- 
cock. 

To- 
tal. 

Alabama,  .... 
Arkansas,   -   .    . 
California,  .   .   . 
Colorado,    .    .    . 
Connecticut,  .    . 
Delaware,  .    .    . 
Florida,  .... 
Georgia,  .... 
Illinois,   .... 
Indiana,  .... 
Iowa    

56,178 
41,661 
80,348 
27,450 
67,073 
14,150 
23,654 
52,648 
318,037 
232,164 
183,904 
121,520 
104,550 
37,994 
74,039 
78,515 
165,205 
185,190 
93,903 
34,854 
153,567 
54,979 
8,732 
44,852 
120,555 
555,544 
115,878 
375,048 
20,619 
444,704 
18,195 
58,071 
107,677 
57,845 
45,090 
84,020 
46,243 
144,397 

90,687 
60,489 
80,426 
24,647 
64,417 
15,183 
27,964 
102,522 
277,321 
225,528 
105,845 
59,789 
147,999 
65,310 
65,171 
93,706 
111,960 
131,300 
53,315 
75,750 
208,609 
28,523 
9,611 
40,794 
122,565 
534,511 
124,204 
340,821 
19,948 
407,428 
10,779 
112,312 
128,191 
156,228 
18,181 
127,976 
57,391 
114,634 

4,642 
4,079 
3,392 
1,435 
868 

412 

151,507 
106,229 
164,166 
53,532 
132,770 
29,333 
51,618 
155,651 
622,312 
470,678 
322,706 
201,019 
264,304 
97,201 
143,853 
173,039 
282,512 
352,441 
150,771 
117,078 
397,221 
87,355 
18,343 
86,363 
245,928 
1,104,605 
241,218 
724,967 
40,816 
874,783 
29,235 
170,956 
241,827 
241,478 
64,593 
212,135 
112,713 
267,172 

1 
3 
6 

21 

15 
11 
5 

7 

13 
11 
5 

3 
5 
35 

22 
3 
29 
4 

5 
'  10 

H) 
6 
5 

3 

4 
11 

'  12 
8 

8 

8 
15 

3 
9 

'  10 

7 
12 

8 

'  11 
5 

10 
6 
6 
3 
6 
3 
4 
11 
21 
15 
11 
5 
12 
8 
7 
8 
13 
11 
5 
8 
15 
3 
3 
5 
9 
35 
10 
22 
3 
29 
4 
7 
12 
8 
5 
11 
5 
10 

481 
26,358 
12,986 
32,327 
19,710 
11,498 
439 
4,408 
818 
4,548 
34,795 
3,267 
5,797 
35,045 
3,853 

596 
630 
257 
235 

799 
1,156 
286 
677 

Kansas,  .... 
Kentucky,  .   .    . 
Louisiana,*.    .    . 
Maine,t  .... 
Maryland,  .    .   . 
Massachusetts,  . 
Michigan,    .    .    . 
Minnesota,  .   .    . 
Mississippi,    .    . 
Missouri,     .   .    . 
Nebraska,   .   .    . 
Nevada,  .... 
New  Hampshire, 
New  Jersey,  .    . 
New  York,  .  .    . 
North  Carolina, 
Ohio     

528 
2,617 
12,373 
1,136 
6,456 
249 
20,668 
236 
566 
5,916 
27,405 
1,212 
139 
9,079 
7,980 

189 
191 
2,177 

'2,642 

1,983 
25 

43 
110 

161 

Oregon,    .... 
Pennsylvania,    . 
Rhode  Island,   . 
South  Carolina, 
Tennessee,  .    .    . 
Texas   

Vermont,    .    .    . 
Virginia,  .... 
West  Virginia, 
Wisconsin,  .   .    . 

Total,.   .    .    . 
Plurality,    .   •    • 
Per  cent,  .... 

4,449,053 
7,018 
48.26 

4,442,035 

307,306 

12,570 

9,204,428 

214 
59 
5800 

155 

42.00 

369 

48.25 

3.33 

.13 

*ln  Louisiana,  two  Republican  Electoral  tickets  were  voted  for:  the  regular  Re- 
publican, and  the  Beattie  or  Grant  Republican.  The  latter  received  about  9,740  votes, 
not  returned  in  the  first  table  published. 

fin  Maine  the  Hancock  Electoral  ticket  was  styled  "  Fusion,"  containing  3  Demo- 
cratic and  4  Greenback  Electors  Besirl.-s  this  a  "  Straight "  Greenback  Electoral  ticket 
Was  voted  for,  with  Weaver's  name  at  the  head. 


534 


THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 


PRESIDENTS  AND  THEIR  CABINETS. 


PRESIDENTS. 

VICE-PRESIDENTS. 

NAME. 

QUALIFIED. 

NAME. 

QUALIFIED. 

George  Washington 
George  Washington 
John  Adams  .... 

April    30,   1789 
March  4,    179;  > 
March  4,    1797 

John  Adams    .    .    . 
John  Adams    .    .    . 
Thomas  Jefferson  . 

June     3,    1789 
Dec.      2,   1793 
March  4,    1797 

Thomas  Jefferson     . 

March  4,    1801 

Aaron  Burr  .... 

March  4,    1801 

Thomas  Jefferson    . 

March  4,    1805 

George  Clinton    .    . 

March  4,    1805 

James  Madison    .   . 

March  4,    1809 

George   Clinton*    . 

March  4,    1809 

Wm.  H.  Crawfordt 

April  10,    1812 

James  Madison    .   . 

March  4,    1813 

El  bridge  Gerry*  .   . 

Marcli  4,    1813 

John  GaillardT   •    • 

Nov.    25,    1814 

James  Monroe  .   .   . 

March  4,    1817 

Daniel  D.  Tompkins 

March  4,    1817 

James  Monroe  .    .    . 

March  5,    1821 

Daniel  D.  Tornpkins 

March  5,    1821 

John  Quincy  Adams 

March  4,    1825 

John  C.  Calhoun    . 

March  4,   1825 

Andrew  Jackson  .   . 

March  4,    1829 

John  C.  CalhounJ  . 

March  4,    1829 

Hugh  L.  Whitet    . 

Dec.    28,    1832 

Andrew  Jackson  .   . 

March  4,    1833 

Martin  Van  Buren 

March  4,    1833 

Martin  Van  Buren  . 

March  4,    1837 

Richard  M.  Johnson 

March  4,    1837 

William  H.Harrison* 

March  4,    1841 

John  Tyler  .... 

March  4,    1841 

John  Tyler     .... 

April     6,    1841 

Samuel  L.  Southardt 

April    6,    1841 

Willie  P.  Mangumt 

May    31,    1842 

James  K.  Polk  .   .   . 

March  4,    1845 

George  M.  Dallas  . 

March  4,    1845 

Zachary  Taylor*  .    . 

March  5,    1849 

Millard   Fillmore    . 

March  5,    1849 

Millard  Fillmore  .    . 

July      9,    1850 

William  R.  Kingt  , 

July    11,    1850 

Franklin  Pierce    .    . 

March  4,    1853 

William  R.  King*  . 

March  4,    1853 

David  R.  Atchisont 

April  18,    1853 

Jesse  D.  Brightt.    . 

Dec.      5,    1854 

James  Buchanan  .    . 

March  4,    1857 

John  C.Breckinridge 

March  4,    1857 

Abraham  Lincoln    . 

March   4,    1861 

Hannibal  Hamlin  . 

March  4,    1861 

Abraham  Lincoln*  . 

March  4,    1865 

Andrew  Johnson    . 

March  4,    1865 

Andrew  Johnson  .  . 

April  15,    1865 

Lafayette  S.  Foster! 

April  15,    1865 

Benjamin  F.  Wadet 

March  2,    1867 

Ulysses  S.  Grant  .   . 

March  4,    1869 

Schuyler  Colfax  .    . 

March  4,    1869 

Ulysses  S.  Grant  .    . 

March  4,    1873 

Henry  Wilson*  .    . 

March  4,    1873 

Thomas  W.  Ferryt 

Nov.    22,    1875 

Rutherford  B.  Hayes 

March  5,    1877 

William  A.  Wheeler 

March  5,    1877 

James  A.  Garfield   . 

March  4,    1881 

Chester  A.  Arthur 

March  4,    1881 

Chester  A.  Arthur  . 

Sept.    20,    1881 

David  Davis    .    .    . 

Oct.     13,    1881 

On  the  6th  of  April,  1841,  John  Tyler  succeeded  to  the  presidency,  on  the 
death  of  William  Henry  Harrison.  Millard  Fillmore  was  the  second  Vice- 
president  to  occupy  the  presidential  office.  On  the  9th  of  July,  1850,  he  was 
summoned,  by  the  death  of  Zachary  Taylor,  to  assume  the  duties  of  Presi- 
dent. By  the  assassination  of  President  Lincoln,  on  the  14th  of  April,  1865, 
Vice-president  Andrew  Johnson  was,  on  the  following  day,  raised  to  the  chief 
magistracy.  In  like  manner  Chester  A.  Arthur  was,  on  the  20th  of  Septem- 
ber, 1881,  called  to  the  presidency  by  the  death  of  James  A.  Garfield. 

*  Died  In  office.  t  Acting  Vice-president  and  President  pro  tern,  of  the  Senate 
t  Resigned  the  Vice-presidency  December  28, 18*2. 


THE  VOTERS'  HAND  BOOK. 


535 


Secretaries  of  State. 

NAME. 

APPOINTED. 

NAME. 

APPOINTED. 

Thomas  Jefferson    . 

Sept.    26,    1789 

Daniel  Webster  .   . 

April    6,    1841 

Thomas  Jefferson    . 

March  4,    1793 

Hugh  S.  Legare  .    . 

May      9,    1843 

Edmund  Randolph  " 

Jan.       2,    1794 

Abel  P.  Upshur  .   . 

July    24,    1843 

Timothy  Pickering  . 

Dec.     10,    1795 

John  C.  Calhoun    . 

March  6,    1844 

Timothy  Pickering  . 

March  4,    1797 

James  Buchanan    . 

March  6,    1845 

John  Marshall  .    .    . 

May     13,    1800 

John  M.  Clayton    . 

March  7,    1849 

James  Madison     .    . 

March  5,    1801 

Daniel  Webster  .   . 

July    22,    1850 

James  Madison     .    . 

March   4,    1805 

Edward  Everett.    . 

Nov.     6,    1852 

Robert  Smith    .   .   . 

March  6,    1809 

William  L.  Marcy  . 

March  7,    1853 

James  Monroe  .   .    . 

April     2,    1811 

Lewis  Cass  .... 

March  6,    1857 

James  Monroe  ,   .   . 

March    4,    1813 

Jeremiah  S.  Black  . 

Dec.     17,    1860 

John  Quincy  Adams 

March   5,   1817 

William  H.  Seward 

March  5,    1861 

John  Quincy  Adams 

March    5,    1821 

William  H.  Seward 

March  4,    1865 

Henry  Clay    .... 

March    7,    1825 

William  H.  Seward 

April  15,    1865 

Martin  Van  Buren  . 

March   6,    1829 

Elihu  B.Washburne 

March  5,    1869 

Edward  Livingston  . 

May     24,    1831 

Hamilton  Fish    .   . 

M'rchll,    1869 

Louis  McLane  .   .    . 

May     29,    1833 

Hamilton  Fish    .   . 

March  4,    1873 

John  Forsyth    .   .    . 

June    27,    1834 

William  M.  Evarts 

M'rchl2,    1877 

John  Forsyth    .    .    . 

March   4,    1837 

James  G.  Elaine  .   . 

March  5,    1881 

Daniel  Webster    .    . 

March   5,    1841 

F.  T.  Frelinghuysen 

Dec.    12,   1881 

Secretaries  of  the  Treasury. 

NAME. 

APPOINTED. 

NAME. 

APPOINTED. 

Alexander  Hamilton 

Sept.    11,    1789 

Walter  Forward     . 

Sept.    13,    1841 

«                « 

March  4,   1793 

John  C.  Spencer    . 

March   3,    1843 

Oliver  Wolcott  .   .   . 

Feb.       2,    1795 

George  M.  Bibb     . 

June    15,    1844 

«            '< 

March  4,    1797 

Robert  J.  Walker  . 

March  6,    1845 

Samuel  Dexter  .   .   . 

Jan.       1,    1801 

Wm.  M.  Meredith 

March   8,    1849 

Albert  Gallatin  .    .    . 

May     14,    1801 

Thomas  Corwin  .    . 

July     23,    1850 

it            it 

March   4,    1809 

James  Guthrie    .    . 

March  7,    1853 

(t            « 

March  4,    1813 

Howell  Cobb  .   .    . 

March  6,    1857 

George  W.  Campbell 

Feb.      9,    1814 

Philip  F.  Thomas  . 

Dec.     12,   1860 

Alexander  J.  Dallas 

Oct.       6,    1814 

John  A.  Dix    .    .    . 

Jan.     11,    1861 

William  H.  Crawford 

Oct.      22,    1816 

Salmon  P.  Chase    . 

March   7,    1861 

«                 (< 

March   5,   1817 

Wm.  Pitt  Fessenden 

July       1,    1864 

it                 « 

March  5,    1821 

Hugh  McCulloch    . 

March  7,    1865 

Richard  Rush-  .    .    . 

March   7,    1825 

<>             tt 

April   15,    1865 

Samuel  D.  Ingham  . 

March   6,    1829 

George  S.  Boutwell 

March  11,    1869 

Louis  McLane  .   .   . 

August  2,    1831 

Wm.  A.  Richardson 

March  17,    1873 

William  J.  Duane    . 

May     29,    1833 

Benj.  H.  Bristow    . 

June     4,    1874 

Roger  B.  Taney    .    . 

Sept.    23,    1833 

Lot  M.  Merrill    .    . 

July       7,    1876 

Levi  Woodbury    .    • 

June    27,    1834 

John  Sherman     .    . 

March  8,    1877 

ft            it 

March  4,    1837 

William  Windom  . 

March   5,   1881 

Thomas  Ewing  .    .    . 

March    5,    1841 

Charles  J.  Folger  • 

Oct.      27,   1881 

it          it 

April     6,    1841 

536 


THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 


Sercetaries  of  War. 

NAME. 

APPOINTED. 

NAME. 

APPOINTED. 

Henry  Knox  .... 

Sept.    12,  1789 

John  C.  Spencer  .    . 

Oct.      12,  1841 

«<    •      « 

March  4,  1793 

James  M.  Porter  .    . 

March  8,  1843 

Timothy  Pickering  . 

Jan.       2,  1795 

William  Wilkins  .    . 

Feb.     15,  1844 

James  McHenry  .    . 

Jan.     27,  1796 

William  L.  Marcy    . 

March  6,  1845 

«               « 

March  4,  1797 

George  W.  Crawford 

March  8,  1849 

Samuel  Dexter  .   .   . 

May     13,  1800 

Charles  M.  Conrad  . 

Aug.    15,  1850 

Roger  Griswold    .    . 

Feb.      3,  1801 

Jefferson  Davis     .    . 

March  5,  1853 

Henry  Dearborn  .    . 

March  5,  1801 

John  B.  Floyd  .    .   . 

March  6,  1857 

(<                           <  C 

March  4    1805 

Joseph  Holt 

Tan      18    1861 

William  Eustis.    .    . 

March  1\  180'J 

Simon  Cameron    .    . 

March  5,  1861 

John  Armstrong  .    . 

Jan.     13,  1813 

Edwin  M.  Stan  ton  . 

Jan.     15,  1862 

tt             K 

March  4,  1813 

tt                  i> 

March  4,  1865 

James  Monroe  -    .    . 

Sept.    27,  1814 

<«                  «< 

April   15,  1865 

William  H.  Crawford 

Aug.      1,  1815 

U.  S.  Grant,  ad  int. 

Aug.     12,  1867 

George  Graham    .    . 

ad   interim 

Lorenzo  Thomas  .   . 

Feb.     21,  1868 

John  C.  Calhoun  .    . 

Oct.       8,  1817 

John  M.  Schofield    . 

May     28,  1868 

u             « 

March  5,  1821 

John  A.  Rawlins  .    . 

March  11,  1869 

James  Barbour.   .    . 

March   7,  1825 

William  W.  Belknap 

Oct.      25,  1869 

Peter  B.  Porter     .    . 

May     26,  1828 

"                     << 

March   4,  1873 

John  H.  Eaton     .   . 

March  9,  1829 

Alphonso  Taft  .    .    . 

March  8,  1876 

Lewis  Cass     .... 

Aug.      1,  1831 

James  D.  Cameron  . 

Mav     22,  1876 

«         « 

March  4,  1833 

George  W.  McCrary 

March  12,  1877 

Joel  R.  Poinsett   .    . 

March   7,  1837 

Alexander  Ramsey  . 

Dec.     10,  1879 

John  Bell   

March  5    1841 

Robert  T.  Lincoln    . 

March  5,  1881 

It                 li 

April     6,  1841 

Secretaries  of  the  Navy. 

Benjamin  Stoddert  . 

May     21,  1798 

Abel  P.  Upshur   .    . 

Sept.    13,  1841 

«                « 

March  4,  1801 

David  Henshaw  •    • 

July     24,  1843 

Robert  Smith    .    .    . 

July     15,  1801 

Thomas  W.  Gilmer 

Feb.     15,  1844 

J.  Crowninshield  .    . 

March  3,  1805 

John  Y.  Mason    .    . 

M'rch  14,  1844 

Paul  Hamilton  .    .    . 

March  7,  1809 

George  Bancroft  .    . 

M'rch  10,  1845 

William  Jones  .   .    . 

Ian.     12,  1813 

John  Y.  Mason    .    . 

Sept.      9,  1846 

i.            it 

Mar  Sh  4,  1813 

William  B.  Preston 

March   8,  1849 

B.  W.  Crowninshield 

Dec.     19,  1814 

William   A.  Graham 

July     22,  1850 

tt               a 

March  4,  1817 

John  P.  Kennedy    . 

Julv     22,  1852 

Smith  Thompson  .    . 

Nov.      9,  1818 

James  C.  Dobbin    . 

March  7,  1853 

<!                                     tt 

March  5,  1821 

Isaac  Touc.ey     .    .    . 

March  6,  1857 

Samuel  L.  Southard  . 

Sept.    16,  1823 

Gideon  Welles  .    .    . 

March  5,  18(51 

tt               tt 

March  4,  1825 

K            « 

March   4,   1865 

John  Branch     .    .    . 

March  9,  1829 

U                          (( 

April   15,  1865 

Levi  Woodbury    .   . 

May     23,  1831 

Adolph  E.  Borie  .    . 

March  5,  1869 

<*            it 

March  4,  1833 

George  M.  Robeson 

June    25,  1869 

Mahlon  Dickerson  . 

June    30,  1834 

tt                    .« 

March  4,  1873 

a            ti 

March  4,  1837 

Rich'd  W.  Thompson 

M'rch  12,  1877 

James  K.  Spaulding 

June    25,  1838 

Nathan  Goff,  Jr.  .    . 

Jan.       6,  1881 

George  E.  Badger    . 

March  5,  1841 

William  H.  Hunt    . 

March  5,  1881 

«                 tt 

April     6,   1841 

William  E.  Chandler 

April     1,   1882 

THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 


537 


, 

Secretaries  of  the  Interior. 

NAMR. 

APPOINTED. 

NAME. 

APPOINTED. 

Thomas  Ewing.    .  rf 

March   8,  1849 

Orville  H.  Browning 

July     27,  1866 

Alex.  H.  H.  Stuart  . 

Sept.    12,  1850 

Jacob  D.  Cox    .   .   . 

March  5,  1869 

Robert  McClelland  . 

March   7,   1853 

Columbus  Delano    . 

Nov.      1,  1870 

Jacob  Thompson 

March  6,  1857 

<*                <« 

March   4,  1873 

Caleb  B.  Smith     .    . 

March   5,  1861 

Zachariuh  Chandler 

Oct.      19,  1875 

John  P.  Usher  .    .    . 

Jan.       8,  1863 

Carl  Schurz    .... 

March  12    1877 

i<              « 

March  4,  1865 

Samuel  J.  Kirkwood 

March  5,  1881 

«              « 

April   15,  1865 

Henry  M.  Teller  .    . 

April     6,  1882 

James  Harlan   .    .    . 

May     15,  1865 

Postmasters-General. 

Samuel  Osgood     .    . 

Sept.    26,  1789 

Cave  Johnson  .   .    . 

March  6,  1845 

Timothy  Pickering  . 

Aug.    12,  1791 

Jacob  Collamer    .    . 

March  8,  1849 

«                     « 

March   4,  1793 

Nathan  K.  Hall  .    . 

July     23,  1850 

Joseph  Habersham 

Feb.     25,  1795 

Samuel  D.  Hubbard 

Aug.    31,  1852 

c<                      <« 

March  4,  1797 

James  Campbell  .    . 

March   5,  1853 

«             <i 

March  4,  1801 

Aaron  V.  Brown  .    . 

March  6,  1857 

Gideon  Granger  .    . 

Nov.    28,  1801 

Joseph  Holt  .... 

March  14,  1859 

«             i< 

March  4,  1805 

Horatio  King    .    .    . 

Feb.     12,  1861 

«             « 

March  4,  1809 

Montgomery  Blair  . 

March  5,  1861 

Return  J.  Meigs,  Jr. 

March  17,  1814 

William  Dennison  . 

Sept    24,  1864 

«              « 

March  4,  1817 

*<                « 

March  4,  1865 

«              <« 

March  5,  1821 

'<                « 

April   15,  1865 

John  McLane    .   .   . 

June    26,  1823 

Alex.  W.  Randall  ' 

July     25,  1866 

n             « 

March  4,  1825 

John  A.  J.  Creswell 

March  5,  1869 

William  T.  Barry  .   . 

March  9,  1829 

«                   « 

March  4,  1873 

it             n 

March  4,  1833 

Marshall  Jewell    .    . 

Aug.    24,  1874 

Amos  Kendall 

May       1,  1835 

James  N.  Tyner   .    . 

July     12,  1876 

«              i. 

March  4,  1837 

David  McK.  Key  .   . 

March  12,  1877 

John  M.  Niles  .    .    . 

Mav     25,  1840 

Horace  Maynard  .   . 

June     2,  1880 

Francis  Granger  .    . 

March  6,  1841 

Thomas  L.  James    . 

March  5,  1881 

«              « 

April     6,  1841 

Timothy  O-  Howe  . 

Dec.     20,  1881 

Charles  A.  Wickliffe 

Sept.    13,  1841 

Attorneys-  General. 

Edmund  Randolph  . 

Sept.    26,   1789 

Caesar  A.  Rodney   . 

March  4,  1809 

•<                « 

March  4,  1793 

William  Pinckney   . 

Dec.     11,  1811 

William  Bradford    . 

Jan.     27,  1794 

K                           « 

March  4,  1813 

Charles  Lee  .... 

Dec.     10,  1795 

Richard  Rush  .    .    . 

Feb.     10,  1814 

"        " 

March  4,  1797 

«             « 

March  4,  1817 

Theophilus  Parsons 

Feb.     20,  1801 

William  Wirt  .   .   . 

Nov.     13,  1817 

Levi  Lincoln  .... 

March  5,  1801 

«                        K 

March  5,  1821 

Robert  Smith    .    .    . 

March  3,  1805 

«                         « 

March  4,  1825 

John  Breck  in  ridge  . 

Aug.      7,  1805 

John  M.  Berrien  .    . 

March  9,  1829 

Caesar  A.  Rodney    . 

Jan.     27,  1807 

Roger  B.  Taney    .    . 

July     20,  1831 

538 


THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 


Attorneys-General—Continued. 

NAME. 

APPOINTED. 

NAME. 

APPOINTED. 

Roger  B.  Taney    .    . 

March  4,  1833 

Edward  Bates   .    .    . 

March  5,  1861 

Benjamin  F.  Butler 

Nov.    15,  1833 

T.  J.   Coffey,  ad  int. 

June    22,  1863 

March  4,  1837 

James  Speed  .... 

Dec.       2,  1864 

Felix  Grundy    .    .    . 

July       5,  1838 

<(                          U 

March   4,  1865 

Henry  D.  Gilpin  .    . 
John  J.  Crittenden  . 

Jan.     11,  1840 
March  5,  1841 

Henrv  Stanberry  .    . 

April   15,  1865 
July     23,  1866 

a               n 

April     6,  1841 

William  M.  Evarts  . 

July     15,  1868 

Hugh  S.  Legare    .   . 
John  Nelson  .... 

Sept.    13,  1841 
July      1,  1843 

E.  Rockwood  Hoar  . 
Amos  T.  Ackerman 

March  5,  1869 
June    23,  1870 

John  Y.  Mason    .    . 

March  6,  1845 

George  H.  Williams 

Dec.     14,  1871 

Nathan  Clifford    .    . 

Oct.      17,  1846 

March  4,  1873 

Isaac  Toucey     •   •    • 

June    21,  1848 

Edwards  Pierrepont 

April   26,  1875 

Reverdy  Johnson    . 

March  8,  1849 

Alphonso  Taft  .    .    . 

May     22,  1876 

John  J.  Crittenden  . 

July    22,  1850 

Charles  Devens    .    . 

March  12,  1877 

Caleb  Gushing  .    .    . 

March  7,  1853 

Wayne  McVeagh    . 

March  5,  1881 

Jeremiah  S.  Black  . 

March  6,  1857 

Benj.  H.  Brewster  . 

Dec.     19,  1881 

Edwin  M.  Stanton  . 

Dec.     20,  1860 

PUBLIC  DEBT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

To  January  ist  of  each  year  to  1842.     To  July  1st,  from  1843-1883. 


1791  . 

.  $75,463,476  52 

1815  . 

.  $99,833,660  15 

1839  . 

.  $3,573,343  82 

1792  . 

.  77,227,924  66 

1816  . 

.  127,334,933  74 

1840  . 

.   5,250,875  54 

1793  . 

.  80,352,634  04 

1817  . 

.  123,491,965  16 

1841  . 

.  13,594,480  73 

1794  . 

.  78,427,404  77 

1818  . 

.  103,166,633  83 

1842  . 

.  20,601,226  28 

1795  . 

.  80,747,587  39 

1819  . 

.  95,529,648  28 

1843  . 

.  32,742,922  00 

1796  . 

.  83,762,172  07 

1820  . 

.  91,015,566  15 

1844  . 

.  23,461,652  50 

1797  . 

.  82,064,479  33 

1821  . 

.  89,987,427  66 

1845  . 

.  15,925,303  01 

1798  . 

.  79,228,529  12 

1822  . 

.  93,546,676  98 

1846  . 

.  15,550,202  97 

1799  . 

.  78,408,669  77 

1823  . 

.  90,875.877  28 

1847  . 

.  38,826,534  77 

1800  . 

.  82,976,294  35 

1824  . 

.  90,269,777  77 

1848  . 

.  47,044,862  23 

1801  . 

.  83,038,050  80 

1825  . 

.  83,788,432  71 

1849  . 

.  63,061,858  69 

1802  . 

.  86,712,632  25 

1826  . 

.  81,054,059  99 

1850  . 

.  63,452,773  55 

1803  . 

.  77,054,686  30 

1827  . 

.  73,987,357  20 

1851  . 

.  68,304,796  02 

1804  - 

.  86,427,120  88 

1828  . 

.  67,475,043  87 

1852  . 

.  66,199,341  71 

1805  . 

.  82,312,150  50 

1829  . 

.  58,421,413  67 

1853  . 

.  59,803,117  70 

1806  . 

.  75,723,270  66 

1830  . 

.  48,565,406  50 

1854  . 

.  42,242,222  42 

1807  . 

.  69,218,398  64 

1831  . 

.  39,123,191  68 

1855  . 

.  35,586,858  56 

1808 

.  65,196,317  97 

1832  . 

.  24,322,235  18 

1856  . 

.  31,972,537  90 

1809  - 

.  57,023,192  09 

1833  . 

.   7,001,698  83 

1857  . 

.  28,699,831  85 

1810  . 

.  53,173,217  52 

1834  . 

.   4,760,082  08 

1858  . 

.  44,911,881  03 

1811  . 

.  48,005,587  76 

1835  . 

37,513  05 

1859  . 

.  58,496,837  88 

1812  . 

.  45,209,737  90 

1836  . 

336,957  83 

1860  - 

.  64,842,287  88 

1813  . 

.  55,962,827  57 

1837  . 

.   3,308,124  07 

1861  - 

.  90,580,873  72 

1814  . 

.  81,487,846  24 

1838  . 

.  10,434,221  14 

1862  . 

.  524,176,412  13 

THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 


539 


Public  Debt  of  the  United  States— Continued. 


1863  .  $1,119,772,138  63 
1864  .  1,815,784,370  57 
1865  .  2,680,647,869  74 
1866  .  2,773,236,173  69 
1867  .  2,678,126,103-  87 
1868  .  2,611,687,851  19 
1869  .  2,588,452,213  94 

1870  .  $2,480,672,427  81 
1871  .  2,353,211,332  32 
1872  .  2,253  251,328  78 
1873  .  2,234,482,993  20 
1874.  2,251,690,46843 
1875  .  2,232,284,531  95 
1876  .  2,180,395,067  15 

1877  .  $2,205,301,392  10 
1878  .  2,256,205,892  53 
1879  .  2,245.495,072  04 
1880  .  2,120,415,370  63 
1881  .  2,069,013,569  58 
1882  .  1,918,312,994  03 
1883  .  1,884,171,728  07 

THOSE  WHO  ARE  ENTITLED  TO  VOTE. 


STATES. 

> 
? 

REQUIREMENT  AS  TO 
CITIZENSHIP. 

-,.1 

n 

Residence 
in 
County.. 

REGISTRATION. 

Alabama,  .    .    . 
Arkansas  .    .    . 
California  .  .   . 
Colorado  .    .    . 
Connecticut  .    . 
Delaware  .   .    . 
Florida  .... 
Georgia  .... 
Illinois  .... 
Indiana  .... 

21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 

Citizens  or  declared  intention  . 
Citizens  or  declared  intention. 
Actual  citizens  

I  yr. 
l  yr. 
1  yr. 
6  mo 
1  yr. 
1  yr. 
1  yr. 
1  yr. 
1  yr. 
6  mo 
6  mo 
6  mo 
2yrs 
1  yr. 

3  mo 
1  yr. 
1   vr 

3  mo 
6  mo 
90  ds 

6  mo 
1  mo 
6  mo 
6  mo 
90  ds 
60  ds 
60  ds 

1  yr. 

6  mo 

6  mo 

No  law. 
Prohibited. 
Required. 
Required. 
Required. 
Not  required. 
Required. 
No  law. 
Required. 
No  law. 
Required. 
Req'd  in  cities. 
Not  required. 
No  law. 
Required. 
Required. 
Required. 
Required. 
Required. 
Required. 
Req'd  in  cities. 
Required. 
Required. 
Required. 
Req'd  in  cities. 
Req'd  in  cities. 
Required. 
Not  required. 

Required. 
Required. 
Required, 
Not  required. 
Prohibited. 
Required. 
Required. 
Prohibited. 
Required. 

Citizens  or  declared  intention. 
Actual  citizens  

Actual  county  taxpayers.  .   . 
U.  &.  citizens  or  decl'd  intent'ns 
Actual  citizens  

Actual  citizens  

Citizens  or  declared  intention  . 
Actual  citizens  

Kansas  .... 
Kentucky  .  .   . 
Louisiana  .    .   . 
Maine  
Maryland  .   .    . 
Massachusetts  . 
Michigan  .    .    . 
Minnesota  .  .    . 
Mississippi.  .    . 
Missouri    .    .    . 
Nebraska  .    .    . 
Nevada  .... 
NewHampshire 
New  Jersey  .   . 
New  York  .  .    . 
North  Carolina. 
Ohio  

Citizens  or  declared  intention  . 
Actual  citizens  

Citizens  or  declared  intention  . 
Actual  citizens  ........ 

Actual  citizens  

Citizens   

Citizens  or  declared  intention  . 
Citizens  or  declared  intention  . 
Actual  citizens         

-1  /*• 

3  mo 
4  mo 
6  mo 
1  yr. 
6  mo 
6  mo 

1  yr. 

1  yr. 
1  vr. 

1  mo 
60  ds 

3o'ds 
5  mo 
4  mo 
90  ds 

Citizens  or  declared  intention  . 
Citizens  or  declared  intention  . 
Citizens  or  declared  intention  . 
Actual  citizens  

Actual  citizens  

Actual  citizens  

Actual  citizens  

Actual  citizens  
Citizens  or  declared  intention  . 
Actual  citizens  
Actual  tax-paying  citizens  .   .   . 
Actual  citizens  

1  yr. 
6  mo 
1  yr. 
1  yr. 
1  yr. 
i  yr. 
1  yr. 
1  yr. 
1  yr. 
1  yr. 

1  yr. 

60  ds 
6  mo 
6  mo 

60  ds 

Oregon  .... 
Pennsylvania  . 
Rhode  Island  . 
South    Carolina 
Tennessee.    .    . 
Texas  
Vermont  .    .    . 
Virginia  .... 
West  Virginia. 
Wisconsin  .  .    . 

Actual  citizens  

Citizens  or  declared  intention  . 
Actual  citizens  
Actual  citizens  

Actual  citizens  

Citizens  or  declared  intention 

540 


THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 


APPORTIONMENT  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  IN  CONGRESS, 

And  Ratio  of  Representation  by  the  Constitution  and  at  each  Census. 


STATES. 

Admitted  to  the 
Dnlou  

REPRESENTATIVES  TO  WHICH  EACH  STATE  WAS  ENTITLED  BY 

si 

'  § 

K    2 

"  r 

~     e 

5    1 

a    s 

K    2 
3     £? 

5    3 

3        8 

?   1 

?    2 

K      -3 

14 

-*3o 

i! 

Yl 

~B- 

**!?" 

»?- 

.»j?o 

*I0 

--So 

*    1 

w     * 

s  I 

.        c 

•    i 

"      m 

P  i 

Ratio  of  Repre- 
sentation   

30,000 

33,000 

33,000 

35,000 

40,000 

47,700 

70,680 

93,423 

127,381 

6 
3 
3 

131,425 

154,325 

1819 

3 

5 

7 
1 

7 
2 
2 

8 
4 
4 

1 
4 
1 
2 
9 
19 
13 
9 
3 
10 
6 
5 
6 
11 
9 
3 
6 
13 
1 
1 
3 
7 
33 
8 
20 
1 
27 
2 
5 
10 
6 
3 
9 
3 
8 

8 
5 
6 
1 
4 
1 
2 
10 
20 
13 
11 
7 
11 
6 
4 
6 
12 
11 
5 
7 
14 
3 
1 
2 
7 
34 
9 
21 
1 
28 
2 
7 
10 
11 
2 
10 
4 
9 

1836 

/*!•<•  ^      V  

1850 
1876 

Connecticut  

5 
1 

7 

1 

7 
1 

7 
2 

6 
1 

6 
1 

4 

1 

4 
1 
1 
8 
9 
11 
2 

4 
1 
1 
7 
14 
11 
6 
1 
9 
5 
5 
5 
10 
6 
2 
5 
9 
*1 

3 
5 

31 
7 
19 
1 
24 
2 
4 
8 
4 
3 
11 

Florida 

1845 

3 

2 

4 

6 

7 

1 
3 

9 
3 

7 

8 
7 
10 

Illinois 

1818 

ISIIi 

1846 

1861 

1792 

2 

6 

10 

12 
3 

7 
9 
13 

13 
3 
8 
8 
12 

10 
4 
7 
6 
10 
3 

10 
4 
6 
6 
11 
4 

5 
7 

I8'>0 

6 
8 

8 
14 

9 
17 

9 
20 

Massachusetts  .. 

1837 

lK=i8 

1817 

1 
1 

2 
2 

4 
5 

1821 

1867 

1864 

New  Hamps'e.. 

3 
4 
6 
5 

4 
5 
10 
10 

5 
6 
17 
12 

6 
6 
27 
13 
6 

6 
6 
34 
13 
14 

5 
6 
40 
13 
19 

4 
5 
34 
9 

21 

3 
5 
33 
8 
21 

25 

2 
6 
10 
2 
3 
13 

New  Jersey  

New  York  

North  Carolina 
Ohio               

isif? 

Pennsylvania... 
Rhod«  Island... 
Mouth  Carolina. 
Tennessee  

1796 
1845 

8 
1 
5 

13 
2 
6 

18 
2 
8 
3 

23 
2 
9 
6 

26 
2 
9 
9 

28 
2 
9 
13 

24 
2 
7 
11 

Vermont.  
Virginia  

1791 

..„„.. 

2 
19 

4 

22 

6 
23 

5 

22 

5 
21 

4 
15 

West  Virginia. 

1863 
1848 

3 

6 

Whole  number 

65 

105 

141 

181 

213 

240 

223 

237 

243 

293 

325 

AGGREGATE  ISSUES  OF  PAPER  MONEY  IN  WAR  TIMES. 


POPULATION. 

AMOUNT  ISSUED. 

Amount 
per  btad. 

Continental  money  

3,000,000  In  1780. 

$359,546,825 

$119  84 

French  assignats....  

26,500  000  (France  in  1790  ) 

9,115,600,000 

343  98 

Confederate  currency  

9,103  332  (11  Confederate 

654,465,963 

71  89 

Greenbacks  and  national 
bank-notes  

States,  1860.) 
31  443  321  (United  States  in 

Highest  amount  in 
circulation.  Jan.  '66. 

I860.) 

5750,820,228 

23  87 

THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 


541 


POPULATION  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES,  BY  RACES,  IN  1880. 

From  the  Official  Returns  of  the  Tenth  Census. 


STATES  AND  TERRITORIES. 

Total 
Population. 
1880. 

White. 
1880. 

Colored. 
1880. 

Chinese. 
1880. 

Indians  civ. 
or  taxed. 
1880. 

1 

Alabama,    .    .    . 

1,262,505 

662,185 

600,103 

4 

213 

2 

Arizona,  .... 

40,440 

35,160 

155 

1,632 

3,493 

3 

Arkansas,    .    .    • 

802,525 

591,531 

210,666 

133 

195 

4 

California,  .   .    . 

864,694 

767,181 

6,018 

75,218 

16,277 

5 

Colorado,    .   .    . 

194,327 

191,126 

2,435 

612 

154 

6 

Connecticut,  .    . 

622,700 

610,769 

11,547 

129 

255 

7 

Dakota,    .... 

135,177 

133,147 

401 

238 

1,391 

8 

Delaware,   .    .    . 

146,608 

120,160 

26,442 

11 

5 

9 

Dist.  Columbia,  . 

177,624 

118,006 

59,596 

17 

5 

10 

Florida,   .... 

269,493 

142,605 

126,690 

18 

180 

11 

Georgia,  .... 

1,542,180 

816,906 

725,133 

17 

124 

12 

Idaho,  

32,610 

29,013 

53 

3,379 

165 

13 

[llinois,    .... 

3,077,871 

3,031,151 

46,368 

212 

140 

14 

Indiana,  .... 

1,978,301 

1,938,798 

39,228 

29 

246 

15 

[owa     

1,624,615 

1,614,600 

9,516 

33 

466 

16 

Kansas,   .    .    .    . 

996,096 

952,155 

43,107 

19 

815 

17 

Kentucky,  .    .    . 

1,648,690 

1,377,179 

271,451 

10 

50 

18 

Louisiana,  .    .    . 

939,946 

454,954 

483,655 

489 

848 

19 

Maine,  

648,936 

646,852 

1,451 

8 

625 

20 

Maryland,  .    .    . 

934,943 

724,693 

210,230 

5 

15 

21 

Massachusetts,   . 

1,783,085 

1,763,782 

18,697 

237 

369 

22 

Michigan,.  .    .    . 

1,636,937 

1,614,560 

15,100 

28 

7,249 

23 

Minnesota,  .    .    . 

780,773 

776,884 

1,564 

25 

2,300 

24 

Mississippi,  .  .    . 

1,131,597 

479,398 

650,291 

51 

1,857 

25 

Missouri,  .... 

2,168,380 

2,022,82(5 

145,350 

91 

113 

26 

Montana,    .   .   . 

39,159 

35,385 

346 

1,765 

1,663 

27 

Nebraska,   .    .    . 

452,402 

449,764 

2,385 

18 

235 

28 

Nevada,  .... 

62,266 

53,556 

488 

5,419 

2,803 

29 

New  Hampshire, 

•346,991 

346,229 

685 

14 

63 

30 

New  Jersey,  .    . 

1,131,116 

1,092,017 

38,853 

172 

74 

31 

New  Mexico,  .   . 

119,565 

108,721 

1,015 

57 

9,772 

32 

New  York,  .   .    . 

5,082,871 

5,016,022 

65,104 

926 

819 

33 

North  Carolina,  . 

1,399,750 

867,242 

531,277 

1 

1,230 

34 

Ohio     

3,198,062 

3,117,920 

79,900 

112 

130 

35 

Oregon,    .... 

1174,768 

163,075 

487 

9,512 

1,694 

36 

Pennsylvania,    . 

4,282,891 

4,197,016 

85,535 

156 

184 

37 

Rhode  Island,  . 

276,531 

269,939 

6,488 

27 

77 

38 

.South    Carolina, 

995,577 

391,105 

604,332 

9 

131 

39 

Tennessee,  .    .   . 

1,542,359 

1,138,831 

403,151 

25 

352 

40 

Texas       .... 

1,591,749 

1,197,237 

393,384 

136 

992 

41 

Utah,       .... 

143,963 

142,423 

232 

501 

807 

42 

Vermont  .... 

332,286 

331,218 

1,057 

11 

43 

Virginia,  .... 

1,512,565 

880,858 

631,616 

6 

85 

44 

Washington,  .    . 

75,116 

67,199 

325 

3,187 

4,405 

45 

West  Virginia,  . 

618,457 

592,537 

25,886 

5 

29 

46 

Wisconsin,  .   .   . 

1,315,497 

1,309,618 

2,702 

16 

3,161 

47 

Wyoming,  .   .    . 

20,789 

19,437 

298 

914 

140 

Total  U.  States 

50,155,783 

43,402.970 

6,580,793 

105,613 

66,407, 

542 


THE  VOTERS'  HAND-BOOK. 


CITIZENSHIP,  WITH  THE  TOTAL  MALE  POPULATION,  1880. 

From  the  Official  Returns  of  the  Tenth  Census. 


STATES  AND  TERRITORIES. 

POPULATION. 

VOTING  POPULATION. 

Males  of  21  years  and  over. 

Total. 

White. 

Colored. 

White. 

Colored. 

1,262,505 
40,440 
802,525 
864,694 
194,327 
622,700 
135,177 
146,608 
177,624 
269,493 
1,542,180 
32,610 
3,077,871 
1,978,301 
1,624,615 
996,096 
1,648,690 
939,946 
648,936 
934,943 
1,783,085 
1,636,937 
780,773 
1,131,597 
2,168,380 
39,159 
452,402 
62,266 
346,991 
1,131,116 
119,565 
5,082,871 
1,399,750 
3,198,062 
174,768 
4,282,891 
276,531 
995,577 
1,542,359 
1,591,749 
143,963 
332,286 
1,512,565 
75,116 
618,457 
1,315,497 
20,789 

662,185 
35,160 
591,531 
767,181 
191,126 
610,769 
133,147 
120,160 
118,006 
142,605 
816,906 
29,013 
3,031,151 
1,938,798 
1,614,600 
952,155 
1,337,179 
454,954 
646,852 
724,693 
1,763  782 
1,614,560 
776,884 
479,398 
2,022,826 
35,385 
449,764 
53,556 
346,229 
1,092,017 
108,721 
5,016,022 
867,242 
3,117,920 
163,075 
4,197,016 
269,939 
391,105 
1,138,831 
1,197,237 
142,423 
331,218 
880,858 
67,199 
592,537 
1,309,618 
19,437 

600,320 
5,280 
210,994 
97,513 
3,201 
11,931 
2,030 
26,448 
59,618 
126,888 
725,274 
3,597 
46,720 
39,503 
10,015 
43,941 
271,511 
484,992 
2,084 
210,250 
19,303 
22,377 
3,889 
652,199 
145,554 
3,774 
2,638 
8,710 
762 
39,099 
10,844 
66,849 
532,508 
80,142 
11,693 
85,875 
6,592 
604,472 
403,528 
394,512 
1,540 
1,068 
631,707 
7,917 
25,920 
5,879 
1,352 

141,461 
18,046 
136,150 
262,583 
92,088 
173,759 
50,962 
31,902 
31,955 
34,210 
177,967 
11,669 
783,161 
487,698 
413,633 
254,949 
317,579 
108,810 
186,659 
183,522 
496,692 
461,557 
212,399 
108,254 
508,165 
19,636 
128,198 
25,633 
104,901 
289,965 
30,981 
1,388,692 
189,732 
804,871 
51,636 
1,070,392 
75,012 
86,900 
250,055 
301,737 
32,078 
95,307 
206,248 
24,251 
132,777 
338,932 
9,241 

118,423 
2,352 
46,827 
266,809 
1,520 
3,532 
641 
6,396 
13,918 
27,489 
143,471 
3,126 
13,686 
10,739 
3,025 
10,765 
58,642 
107,977 
664 
48,584 
5,956 
6,130 
1,086 
130,278 
33,042 
1,908 
844 
5,622 
237 
10,670 
3,095 
20,059 
105,018 
21,706 
7,993 
23,892 
1,886 
118,889 
80,250 
78,639 
695 
314 
128,257 
3,419 
6,384 
1,550 
939 

Arkansas,  .    . 
California,  
Colorado  

Connecticut,     .    .    . 
Dakota  

Delaware  

District  Columbia  . 
Florida  

Idaho     

Iowa       

Kansas      

Kentucky,    .... 
Louisiana,  
Maine     

Maryland,  
Massachusetts,  .  .   . 
Michigan  

Minnesota,    .... 
Mississippi,  .... 
Missouri,  

Nevada,  

New  Hampshire,  . 
New  Jersey,  .... 
New  Mexico,   .   .    . 
New  York,    .... 
North  Carolina,  .    . 
Ohio       .... 

Oregon,  

Pennsylvania,  .   .    . 
Rhode  Island,  .  .    . 
South  Carolina,  .    . 
Tennessee     .... 
Texas,    

Utah,  

Vermont,  

Virginia     .    .    . 

Washington,    .    .    . 
West  Virginia,    .    . 
Wisconsin,    .... 
Wyoming  

Total,  

50,155,783 

43,402,970 

6,580,793 

11,343,005 

1,487,344 

i 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER 


OF 


JAMES  ABRAM  GARFIELD 


A  MEMORIAL  ADDRESS, 

DELIVERED  BEFORE  THE  CONGRESS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES,  FEBRUARY  27, 188& 


BY  JAMES  G.  ELAINE, 

EX-SECRETARY  OF  STATE. 


INTRODUCTORY  NOTE. — After  the  first  sorrow  for  President  Garfield's  death  was  somewhat 
modified  by  time,  what  may  be  called  the  formal  sorrow  of  the  people  began  to  seek  a  more 
elaborate  expression.  It  was  felt  to  be  fitting  that  the  nation,  as  such,  by  her  highest  repre- 
sentative body,  should,  by  some  suitable  memorial  services,  commemorate  the  life  and  death 
of  the  late  honored  Chief  Magistrate.  Very  soon  after  the  opening  of  Congress,  in  December 
of  1881,  various  resolutions  were  introduced,  looking  to  a  formal  observance  in  memory  of 
the  dead.  After  considerable  discussion,  the  27th  of  February,  1882,  was  fixed  upon  as  the 
memorial  day,  and  ex-Secretary  Elaine  was  chosen  as  speaker  to  pronounce  a  suitable  eulogy 
on  the  life  and  character  of  Garfield.  The  occasion  was  one  of  the  utmost  state  and  solem- 
nity. There  were  present,  besides  the  two  Houses  of  Congress,  the  President  and  his  Cabinet, 
the  ministers  resident  of  foreign  powers,  the  generals  of  the  army  and  commanders  of  the 
navy,  and  hundreds  of  the  most  distinguished  men  and  women  in  America.  The  orator  and 
the  eulogy  itself  were  in  keeping  with  the  occasion,  and  it  has  been  deemed  appropriate  by 
the  publishers  to  append  to  this  work  the  full  text  of  Mr.  Blame's  oration,  which  here 
follows.— J  C.  R. 

MR.  PRESIDENT  : — For  the  second  time  in  this  generation  the  great  depart- 
ments of  the  Government  of  the  United  States  are  assembled  in  the  Hall  of 
Representatives  to  do  honor  to  the  memory  of  a  murdered  President.  Lin- 
coln fell  at  the  close  of  a  mighty  struggle,  in  which  the  passions  of  men  had 
been  deeply  stirred.  The  tragical  termination  of  his  great  life  added  but 
another  to  the  lengthened  succession  of  horrors  which  had  marked  so  many 
lintels  with  the  blood  of  the  first  born.  Garfield  was  slain  in  a  day  of  peace, 
when  brother  had  been  reconciled  to  brother,  and  when  anger  and  hate  had 
been  banished  from  the  land.  "  Whosoever  shall  hereafter  draw  the  portrait 
of  murder,  if  he  will  show  it  as  it  has  been  exhibited  where  such  example 
was  last  to  have  been  looked  for,  let  him  not  give  it  the  grim  visage  of 

Moloch,  the  brow  knitted  by  revenge,  the  face  black  with  settled  hate.     Let 

543 


544  LIFE  OF  JAMES  A.  GAKFIELD. 

him  draw,  rather,  a  decorous,  smooth-faced,  bloodless  demon;  not  so  much  an 
example  of  human  nature  in  its  depravity  and  in  its  paroxysms  of  crime,  as 
an  infernal  being,  a  fiend  in  the  ordinary  display  and  development  of  his 
character." 

From  the  landing  of  the  Pilgrims  at  Plymouth  till  the  uprising  against 
Charles  I.,  about  twenty  thousand  emigrants  came  from  old  England  to  New 
England.  As  they  came  in  pursuit  of  intellectual  freedom  and  ecclesiastical 
independence  rather  than  for  worldly  honor  and  profit,  the  emigration  nat- 
urally ceased  when  the  contest  for  religious  liberty  began  in  earnest  at  home. 
The  man  who  struck  his  most  effective  blow  for  freedom  of  conscience  by 
sailing  for  the  colonies  in  1620  would  have  been  accounted  a  deserter  to  leave 
after  1640.  The  opportunity  had  then  come  on  the  soil  of  England  for  that 
great  contest  which  established  the  authority  of  Parliament,  gave  religious 
freedom  to  the  people,  sent  Charles  to  the  block,  and  committed  to  the  hands 
of  Oliver  Cromwell  the  supreme  executive  authority  of  England.  The  En- 
glish emigration  was  never  renewed,  and  from  these  twenty  thousand  men, 
with  a  small  emigration  from  Scotland  and  from  France,  are  descended  the 
vast  numbers  who  have  New  England  blood  in  their  veins. 

In  1685  the  revocation  of  the  edict  of  Nantes,  by  Louis  XIV.,  scattered  to 
other  countries  four  hundred  thousand  Protestants,  who  were  among  the 
most  intelligent  and  enterprising  of  French  subjects — merchants  of  capital, 
skilled  manufacturers,  and  handicraftsmen,  superior  at  the  time  to  all  others 
in  Europe.  A  considerable  number  of  these  Huguenot  French  came  to  Amer- 
ica; a  few  landed  in  New  England  and  became  honorably  prominent  in  its 
history.  Their  names  have,  in  large  part,  become  Anglicized,  or  have  disap- 
peared, but  their  blood  is  traceable  in  many  of  the  most  reputable  families, 
and  their  fame  is  perpetuated  in  honorable  memorials  and  useful  insti- 
tutions. 

From  these  two  sources,  the  English-Puritan  and  the  French-Huguenot, 
came  the  late  President;  his  father,  Abraham  Garfield,  being  descended  from 
the  one,  and  his  mother,  Eliza  Ballou,  from  the  other. 

It  was  good  stock  on  both  sides — none  better,  none  braver,  none  truer. 
There  was  in  it  an  inheritance  of  courage,  of  manliness,  of  imperishable  love 
of  liberty,  of  undying  adherence  to  principle.  Garfield  was  proud  of  his 
blood ;  and,  with  as  much  satisfaction  as  if  he  were  a  British  nobleman  read- 
ing his  stately  ancestral  record  in  Burke's  Peerage,  he  spoke  of  himself  as 
ninth  in  descent  from  those  who  would  not  endure  the  oppression  of  the  Stu- 
arts, and  seventh  in  descent  from  the  brave  French  Protestants  who  refused  to 
submit  to  tyranny  even  from  the  Grand  Monarque. 

General  Garfield  delighted  to  dwell  on  these  traits;  and  during  his  only  visit 
to  England  he  busied  himself  in  discovering  every  trace  of  his  forefathers  in 
parish  registries  and  on  ancient  army  rolls.  Sitting  with  a  friend,  in  the  gal- 


ELAINE'S  EULOGY  ON  GARFIELD.  545 

lery  of  the  House  of  Commons,  one  night,  after  a  long  day's  labor  in  this  field 
of  research,  he  said,  with  evident  elation,  that  in  every  war  in  which,  for  three 
centuries,  patriots  of  English  blood  had  struck  sturdy  blows  for  constitutional 
government  and  human  liberty,  his  family  had  been  represented.  They  were 
at  Marston  Moor,  at  Naseby,  and  at  Preston ;  they  were  at  Bunker  Hill,  at 
Saratoga,  and  at  Monmouth,  and  in  his  own  person  had  battled  for  the  same 
great  cause  in  the  war  which  preserved  the  Union  of  the  States. 

Losing  his  father  before  he  was  two  years  old,  the  early  life  of  Garfield  was 
one  of  privation,  but  its  poverty  has  been  made  indelicately  and  unjustly 
prominent.  Thousands  of  readers  have  imagined  him  as  the  ragged,  starving 
child,  whose  reality  too  often  greets  the  eye  in  the  squalid  sections  of  our 
large  cities.  General  Gartield's  infancy  and  youth  had  none  of  their  destitu- 
tion, none  of  their  pitiful  features  appealing  to  the  tender  heart  and  to  the 
open  hand  of  charity.  He  was  a  poor  boy  in  the  same  sense  in  which  Henry 
Clay  was  a  poor  boy ;  in  which  Andrew  Jackson  was  a  poor  boy  ;  in  which 
Daniel  Webster  was  a  poor  boy ;  in  the  sense  in  which  a  large  majority  of  the 
eminent  men  of  America,  in  all  generations,  have  been  poor  boys.  Before  a 
great  multitude  of  men,  in  a  public  speech,  Mr.  Webster  bore  this  testimony: 

"  It  did  not  happen  to  me  to  be  born  in  a  log-cabin,  but  my  elder  brothers 
and  sisters  were  born  in  a  log-cabin  raised  amid  the  snow  drifts  of  New 
Hampshire,  at  a  period  so  early  that  when  the  smoke  rose  first  from  its  rude 
chimney,  and  curled  over  the  frozen  hills,  there  was  no  similar  evidence  of  a 
white  man's  habitation  between  it  and  the  settlements  on  the  rivers  of  Canada. 
Its  remains  still  exist.  I  make  to  it  an  annual  visit.  I  carry  my  children  to 
it  to  teach  them  the  hardships  endured  by  the  generations  which  have  gone 
before  them.  I  love  to  dwell  on  the  tender  recollections,  the  kindred  ties,  the 
early  affections,  and  the  touching  narratives  and  incidents  which  mingle  with 
all  I  know  of  this  primitive  family  abode." 

With  the  requisite  change  of  scene  the  same  words  would  aptly  portray 
the  early  days  of  Garfield.  The  poverty  of  the  frontier,  where  all  are  engaged 
in  a  common  struggle  and  where  a  common  sympathy  and  hearty  co-operation 
lighten  the  burdens  of  each,  is  a  very  different  poverty — different  in  kind, 
different  in  influence  and  effect — from  that  conscious  and  humiliating  indi- 
gence which  is  every  day  forced  to  contrast  itself  with  neighboring  wealth 
on  which  it  feels  a  sense  of  grinding  dependence.  The  poverty  of  the  frontier 
is  indeed  no  poverty.  It  is  but  the  beginning  of  wealth,  and  has  the  bound- 
less possibilities  of  the  future  always  opening  before  it.  No  man  ever  grew 
up  in  the  agricultural  regions  of  the  West  where  a  house-raising,  or  even  a 
corn-husking,  is  matter  of  common  interest  and  helpfulness,  with  any  other 
feeling  than  that  of  broad-minded,  generous  independence.  This  honorable 
independence  marked  the  youth  of  Garfield  as  it  marks  the  youth  of  millions 
of  the  best  blood  and  brain  now  training  for  the  future  citizenship  and  future 
government  of  the  republic.  Garfield  was  born  heir  to  land,  to  the  title  of 

35 


546  LIFE  OF  JAMES  A.  GAKFIELD. 

freeholder  which  has  been  the  patent  and  passport  of  self-respect  with  the 
Anglo-Saxon  race  ever  since  Hengist  and  Horsa  landed  on  the  shores  of  Eng- 
land. His  adventure  on  the  canal — an  alternative  between  that  and  the 
deck  of  a  Lake  Erie  schooner — was  a  farmer  boy's  device  for  earning  money, 
just  as  the  New  England  lad  begins  a  possibly  great  career  by  sailing  before 
the  mast  on  a  coasting- vessel  or  on  a  merchantman  bound  to  the  Farther  India 
or  to  the  China  Seas. 

No  manly  man  feels  any  thing  of  shame  in  looking  back  to  early  struggles 
with  adverse  circumstances,  and  no  man  feels  a  worthier  pride  than  when  he 
has  conquered  the  obstacles  to  his  progress.  But  no  one  of  noble  mould 
desires  to  be  looked  upon  as  having  occupied  a  menial  position,  as  having 
been  repressed  by  a  feeling  of  inferiority,  or  as  having  suffered  the  evils  of 
poverty  until  relief  was  found  at  the  hand  of  charity.  General  Garfield's 
youth  presented  no  hardships  which  family  love  and  family  energy  did  not 
overcome;  subjected  him  to  no  privations  which  he  did  not  cheerfully  accept ; 
and  left  no  memories  save  those  which  were  recalled  with  delight  and  were 
transmitted  with  profit  and  with  pride. 

Garfield's  early  opportunities  for  securing  an  education  were  extremely 
limited,  and  yet  were  sufficient  to  develop  in  him  an  intense  desire  to  learn. 
He  could  read  at  three  years  of  age,  and  each  winter  he  had  the  advantage 
of  the  district  school.  He  read  all  the  books  to  be  found  within  the  circle 
of  his  acquaintance :  some  of  them  he  got  by  heart.  While  yet  in  childhood 
he  was  a  constant  student  of  the  Bible,  and  became  familiar  with  its  litera- 
ture. The  dignity  and  earnestness  of  his  speech  in  his  maturer  life  gave  evi- 
dence of  this  early  training.  At  eighteen  years  of  age  he  was  able  to  teach 
school,  and  thenceforward  his  ambition  was  to  obtain  a  college  education.  To 
this  end  he  bent  all  his  efforts,  working  in  the  harvest  field,  at  the  carpenter's 
bench,  and,  in  the  winter  season,  teaching  the  common  schools  of  the  neigh- 
borhood. While  thus  laboriously  occupied  he  found  time  to  prosecute  his 
studies,  and  was  so  successful,  that  at  twenty-two  years  of  age  he  was  able  to 
enter  the  junior  class  at  Williams  College,  then  under  the  Presidency  of  the 
venerable  and  honored  Mark  Hopkins,  who,  in  the  fullness  of  his  powers,  sur- 
vives the  eminent  pupil  to  whom  he  was  of  inestimable  service. 

The  history  of  Garfield's  life  to  this  period  presents  no  novel  features.  He 
had  undoubtedly  shown  perseverence,  self-reliance,  self-sacrifice,  and  ambition 
— qualities  which,  be  it  said  for  the  honor  of  our  country,  are  everywhere  to 
be  found  among  the  young  men  of  America.  But  from  his  graduation  at 
Williams  onward  to  the  hour  of  his  tragical  death,  Garfield's  career  was  emi- 
nent and  exceptional.  Slowly  working  through  his  educational  period,  re- 
ceiving his  diploma  when  twenty-four  years  of  age,  he  seemed  at  one  bound 
to  spring  into  conspicuous  and  brilliant  success.  Within  six  years  he  was 
successively  President  of  a  college,  State  Senator  of  Ohio,  Major-General  of 
the  Army  of  the  United  States,  and  ^Representative  elect  to  the  National 


ELAINE'S  EULOGY  ON  GAKFIELD.  547 

Congress.  A  combination  of  honors  so  varied,  so  elevated,  within  a  period  so 
brief,  and  to  a  man  so  youug,  is  without  precedent  or  parallel  in  the  history 
of  the  country. 

Garfield's  army  life  was  begun  with  no  other  military  knowledge  than  such 
as  he  had  hastily  gained  from  books  in  the  few  months  preceding  his  march 
to  the  field.  Stepping  from  civil  life  to  the  head  of  a  regiment,  the  first  order 
he  received  when  ready  to  cross  the  Ohio  was  to  assume  command  of  a  bri- 
gade, and  to  operate  as  an  independent  force  in  Eastern  Kentucky.  His 
immediate  duty  was  to  check  the  advance  of  Humphrey  Marshall,  who  was 
marching  down  the  Big  Sandy  with  the  intention  of  occupying,  in  connection 
with  other  Confederate  forces,  the  entire  territory  of  Kentucky,  and  of  pre- 
cipitating the  State  into  secession.  This  was  at  the  close  of  the  year  1861. 
Seldom,  if  ever,  has  a  young  college  professor  been  thrown  into  a  more  em- 
barrassing and  discouraging  position.  He  knew  just  enough  of  military 
science,  as  he  expressed  it  himself,  to  measure  the  extent  of  his  ignorance, 
and  with  a  handful  of  men  he  was  marching,  in  rough  winter  weather,  into  a 
strange  country,  among  a  hostile  population,  to  confront  a  largely  superior 
force,  under  the  command  of  a  distinguished  graduate  of  West  Point,  who  had 
seen  active  and  important  service  in  two  preceding  wars. 

The  result  of  the  campaign  is  matter  of  history.  The  skill,  the  endurance, 
the  extraordinary  energy  shown  by  Garfield,  the  courage  he  imparted  to  his 
men,  raw  and  untried  as  himself,  the  measures  he  adopted  to  increase  his 
force,  and  to  create  in  the  enemy's  mind  exaggerated  estimates  of  his  num- 
bers, bore  perfect  fruit  in  the  routing  of  Marshall,  the  capture  of  his  camp, 
the  dispersion  of  his  force,  and  the  emancipation  of  an  important  territory 
from  the  control  of  the  rebellion.  Coming  at  the  close  of  a  long  series  of  dis- 
asters to  the  Union  army,  Garfield's  victory  had  an  unusual  and  extraneous 
importance,  and  in  the  popular  judgment  elevated  the  young  commander  to 
the  rank  of  a  military  hero.  With  less  than  2,000  men  in  his  entire  com- 
mand, with  a  mobilized  force  of  only  1,100,  without  cannon,  he  had  met  an 
army  of  5,000  and  defeated  them — driving  Marshall's  forces  successively  from 
two  strongholds  of  their  own  selection,  fortified  with  abundant  artillery. 
Major-General  Buell,  commanding  the  Department  of  the  Ohio,  an  ex- 
perienced and  able  soldier  of  the  regular  army,  published  an  order  of  thanks 
and  congratulation  on  the  brilliant  result  of  the  Big  Sandy  campaign,  which 
would  have  turned  the  head  of  a  less  cool  and  sensible  man  than  Garfield. 
Buell  declared  that  his  services  had  called  into  action  the  highest  qualities  of 
a  soldier ;  and  President  Lincoln  supplemented  these  words  of  praise  by  the 
more  substantial  reward  of  a  brigadier-general's  commission,  to  bear  date 
from  the  day  of  his  decisive  victory  over  Marshall. 

The  subsequent  military  career  of  Garfield  fully  sustained  its  brilliant  be- 
ginning.  With  his  new  commission,  he  was  assigned  to  the  command  of  a 
brigade  in  the  Army  of  the  Ohio,  and  took  part  in  the  second  and  decisive 


548  LIFE  OF  JAMES  A.  GAKFIELD. 

day's  fight  in  the  great  battle  of  Shiloh.  The  remainder  of  the  year  1862  was 
not  especially  eventful  to  Garfield,  as  it  was  not  to  the  armies  with  which  he 
was  serving.  His  practical  sense  was  called  into  exercise  in  completing  the 
task,  assigned  him  by  General  Buell,  of  reconstructing  bridges  and  re-establish- 
ing lines  of  railway  communication  for  the  army.  His  occupation  in  this 
useful  but  not  brilliant  field  was  varied  by  service  on  court-martials  of  im- 
portance, in  which  department  of  duty  he  won  a  valuable  reputation,  attracting 
the  notice  and  securing  the  approval  of  the  able  and  eminent  Judge  Advocate- 
General  of  the  Army.  That  of  itself  was  warrant  to  honorable  fame;  for 
among  the  great  men  who  in  those  trying  days  gave  themselves,  with  entire 
devotion,  to  the  service  of  their  country,  one  who  brought  to  that  service  the 
ripest  learning,  the  most  fervid  eloquence,  the  most  varied  attainments,  who 
labored  with  modesty  and  shunned  applause,  who  in  the  day  of  triumph  sat 
reserved  and  silent  and  grateful — as  Francis  Deak  in  the  hour  of  Hungary's 
deliverance — was  Joseph  Holt,  of  Kentucky,  who  in  his  honorable  retirement 
enjoys  the  respect  and  veneration  of  all  who  love  the  Union  of  the  States. 

Early  in  1863  Garfield  was  assigned  to  the  highly  important  and  responsible 
post  of  chief-of-staff  to  General  Rosecrans,  then  at  the  head  of  the  Army  of 
the  Cumberland.  Perhaps  in  a  great  military  campaign  no  subordinate  officer 
requires  sounder  judgment  and  quicker  knowledge  of  men  than  the  cfyief-of- 
staff  to  the  commanding  general.  An  indiscreet  man  in  such  a  position  can 
sow  more  discord,  breed  more  jealousy,  and  disseminate  more  strife,  than  any 
other  officer  in  the  entire  organization.  When  General  Garfield  assumed  his 
new  duties  he  found  various  troubles  already  well  developed  and  seriously 
affecting  the  value  and  efficiency  of  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland.  The 
energy,  the  impartiality,  and  the  tact  with  which  he  sought  to  allay  these  dis- 
sensions and  to  discharge  the  duties  of  his  new  and  trying  position  will  always 
remain  one  of  the  most  striking  proofs  of  his  great  versatility.  His  military 
duties  closed  on  the  memorable  field  of  Chickamauga,  a  field  which,  however 
disastrous  to  the  Union  arms,  gave  to  him  the  occasion  of  winning  imperish- 
able laurels.  The  very  rare  distinction  was  accorded  him  of  a  great  promotion 
for  his  bravery  on  a  field  that  was  lost.  President  Lincoln  appointed  him  a 
major-general  in  the  Army  of  the  United  States  for  gallant  and  meritorious 
conduct  in  the  battle  of  Chickamauga. 

The  Army  of  the  Cumberland  was  reorganized,  under  the  command  of 
General  Thomas,  who  promptly  offered  Garfield  one  of  its  divisions.  He  was 
extremely  desirous  to  accept  the  position,  but  was  embarrassed  by  the  fact 
that  he  had,  a  year  before,  been  elected  to  Congress,  and  the  time  when  he 
must  take  his  seat  was  drawing  near.  He  preferred  to  remain  in  the  military 
service,  and  had  within  his  own  breast  the  largest  confidence  of  success  in  the 
wider  field  which  his  new  rank  opened  to  him.  Balancing  the  arguments  on 
the  one  side  and  the  other,  anxious  to  determine  what  was  for  the  best,  de- 
sirous above  all  things  to  do  his  patriotic  duty,  he  was  decisively  influenced 


ELAINE'S  EULOGY  ON  GAEFIELD.  549 

by  the  advice  of  President  Lincoln  and  Secretary  Stanton,  both  of  whom  as- 
sured him  that  he  could,  at  that  time,  be  of  especial  value  in  the  House  of 
Representatives.  He  resigned  his  commission  of  major-general  on  the  5th  day 
of  December,  1863,  and  took  his  seat  in  the  House  of  Representatives  on  the 
7th.  He  had  served  two  years  and  four  months  in  the  army,  and  had  just 
completed  his  thirty-second  year. 

The  Thirty-eighth  Congress  is  pre-eminently  entitled  in  history  to  the  desig- 
nation of  the  War  Congress.  It  was  elected  while  the  war  was  flagrant,  and 
every  member  was  chosen  upon  the  issues  involved  in  the  continuance  of  the 
struggle.  The  Thirty-seventh  Congress  had,  indeed,  legislated  to  a  large  extent 
on  war  measures  but  it  was  chosen  before  any  one  believed  thai  secession  of 
the  States  would  be  actually  attempted.  The  magnitude  of  the  work  which 
fell  upon  its  successor  was  unprecedented,  both  in  respect  to  the  vast  sums  of 
money  raised  for  the  support  of  the  army  and  navy,  and  of  the  new  and  ex- 
traordinary powers  of  legislation  which  it  was  forced  to  exercise.  Only 
twenty-four  States  were  represented,  and  182  members  were  upon  its  roll. 
Among  these  were  many  distinguished  party  leaders  on  both  sides,  veterans  in 
the  public  service,  with  established  reputations  for  ability,  and  with  that  skill 
which  comes  only  from  parliamentary  experience.  Into  this  assemblage  of 
men  Garfield  entered  without  special  preparation,  and  it  might  almost  be  said 
unexpectedly.  The  question  of  taking  command  of  a  division  of  troops  under 
General  Thomas,  or  taking  his  seat  in  Congress,  was  kept  open  till  the  last  mo- 
ment— so  late,  indeed,  that  the  resignation  of  his  military  commission  and  his 
appearance  in  the  House  were  almost  contemporaneous.  He  wore  the  uniform 
of  a  major-general  of  the  United  States  army  on  Saturday,  and  on  Monday, 
in  civilian's  dress,  he  answered  to  the  roll-call  as  a  Representative  in  Congress 
from  the  State  of  Ohio. 

He  was  especially  fortunate  in  the  constituency  which  elected  him.  Des- 
cended almost  entirely  from  New  England  stock,  the  men  of  the  Ashtabula 
district  were  intensely  radical  on  all  questions  relating  to  human  rights.  Well 
educated,  thrifty,  thoroughly  intelligent  in  affairs,  acutely  discerning  of 
character,  not  quick  to  bestow  confidence,  and  slow  to  withdraw  it,  they  were 
at  once  the  most  helpful  and  most  exacting  of  supporters.  Their  tenacious 
trust  in  men  in  whom  they  have  once  confided  is  illustrated  by  the  unparal- 
leled fact  that  Elisha  Whittlesey,  Joshua  R.  Giddings,  and  James  A.  Garfield 
represented  the  district  for  fifty-four  years. 

There  is  no  test  of  a  man's  ability  in  any  department  of  public  life  more 
severe  than  service  in  the  House  of  Representatives ;  there  is  no  place  where 
so  little  deference  is  paid  to  reputation  previously  acquired,  or  to  eminence 
won  outside ;  no  place  where  so  little  consideration  is  shown  for  the  feelings 
or  the  failures  of  beginners.  What  a  man  gains  in  the  House  he  gains  by 
sheer  force  of  his  own  character ;  and  if  he  loses  and  falls  back  he  must  expect 
no  mercy,  and  will  receive  no  sympathy.  It  is  a  field  in  which  the  survival 


550  LIFE  OF  JAMES  A.  GABFIELD. 

of  the  strongest  is  the  recognized  rule,  and  where  no  pretense  can  deceive  and 
no  glamour  can  mislead.  The  real  man  is  discovered,  his  worth  is  impartially 
weighed,  his  rank  is  irreversibly  decreed. 

With  possibly  a  single  exception,  Garfield  was  the  youngest  member  in 
the  House  when  he  entered,  and  was  but  seven  years  from  his  college  gradua- 
tion. But  he  had  not  been  in  his  seat  sixty  days  before  his  ability  was  re- 
cognized and  his  place  conceded.  He  stepped  to  the  front  with  the  confidence 
of  one  who  belonged  there.  The  House  was  crowded  with  strong  men  of  both 
parties;  nineteen  of  them  have  since  been  transferred  to  the  Senate,  and 
many  of  them '  have  served  with  distinction  in  the  gubernatorial  chairs  of 
their  respective  States,  and  on  foreign  missions  of  great  consequence ;  but 
among  them  all  none  grew  so  rapidly,  none  so  firmly  as  Garfield.  As  is  said 
by  Trevelyan  of  his  parliamentary  hero,  Garfield  succeeded  "  because  all  the 
world  in  concert  could  not  have  kept  him  in  the  background ;  and  because, 
when  once  in  the  front,  he  played  his  part  with  a  prompt  intrepidity  and  a 
commanding  ease  that  were  but  the  outward  symptoms  of  the  immense  re- 
serves of  energy,  on  which  it  was  in  his  power  to  draw."  Indeed  the  appar- 
ently reserved  force  which  Garfield  possessed  was  one  of  his  great  character- 
istics. He  never  did  so  well  but  that  it  seemed  he  could  easily  have  done 
better.  He  never  expended  so  much  strength  but  that  he  seemed  to  be  hold- 
ing additional  power  at  call.  This  is  one  of  the  happiest  and  rarest  distinc- 
tions of  an  effective  debater,  and  often  counts  for  as  much  in  persuading  an 
assembly  as  the  eloquent  and  elaborate  argument. 

The  great  measure  of  Garfield's  fame  was  filled  by  his  service  in  the  House 
of  Representatives.  His  military  life,  illustrated  by  honorable  performance, 
and  rich  in  promise,  was,  as  he  himself  felt,  prematurely  terminated,  and 
necessarily  incomplete.  Speculation  as  to  what  he  might  have  done  in  a  field 
where  the  great  prizes  are  so  few  can  not  be  profitable.  It  is  sufficient  to  say 
that,  as  a  soldier,  he  did  his  duty  bravely  ;  he  did  it  intelligently  ;  he  won  an 
enviable  (ame,  and  he  retired  from  the  service  without  blot  or  breath  against 
him. 

As  a  lawyer,  though  admirably  equipped  for  the  profession,  he  can 
scarcely  be  said  to  have  entered  on  its  practice.  The  few  efforts  he  made  at 
the  bar  were  distinguished  by  the  same  high  order  of  talent  which  he  exhib- 
ited on  every  field  where  he  was  put  to  the  test ;  and  if  a  man  may  be  ac- 
cepted as  a  competent  judge  of  his  own  capacities  and  adaptations,  the  law 
was  the  profession  to  which  Garfield  should  have  devoted  himself,  But  fate 
ordained  otherwise,  and  his  reputation  in  history  will  rest  largely  upon  his 
service  in  the  House  of  Representatives.  That  service  was  exceptionally  long. 
He  was  nine  times  consecutively  chosen  to  the  House,  an  honor  enjoyed  by 
not  more  than  six  other  Representatives  of  the  more  than  5,000  who  have 
been  elected  from  the  organization  of  the  government  to  this  hour. 

As  a  parliamentary  orator,  as  a  debater  on  an  issue  squarely  joined,  where 


ELAINE'S  EULOGY  ON  GARFIELD.  551 

the  position  has  been  chosen  and  the  ground  laid  out,  Garfield  must  be 
assigned  a  very  high  rank.  More,  perhaps,  than  any  man  with  whom  he  was 
associated  in  public  life,  he  gave  careful  and  systematic  study  to  public 
questions,  and  he  came  to  every  discussion  in  which  he  took  part  with  elabo- 
rate and  complete  preparation.  He  was  a  steady  and  indefatigable  worker. 
Those  who  imagine  that  talent  or  genius  can  supply  the  place  or  achieve  the 
results  of  labor  will  find  no  encouragement  in  Garfield's  life.  In  preliminary 
work  he  was  apt,  rapid,  and  skillful.  He  possessed,  in  a  high  degree,  the 
power  of  readily  absorbing  ideas  and  facts,  and,  like  Dr.  Johnson,  had  the  art 
of  getting  from  a  book  all  that  was  of  value  in  it  by  a  reading  apparantly  so 
quick  and  cursory  that  it  seemed  like  a  mere  glance  at  the  table  of  contents. 
He  was  a  pre-eminently  fair  and  candid  man  in  debate,  took  no  petty  advan- 
tage, stooped  to  no  unworthy  methods,  avoided  personal  allusions,  rarely  ap- 
pealed to  prejudice,  did  not  seek  to  influence  passion.  He  had  a  quicker  eye 
for  the  strong  point  of  his  adversary  than  for  his  weak  point,  and  on  his  own 
side  he  so  marshaled  his  weighty  arguments  as  to  make  his  hearers  forget  any 
possible  lack  in  the  complete  strength  of  his  position.  He  had  a  habit  of 
stating  his  opponent's  side  with  such  amplitude  of  fairness  and  such  liberality 
of  concession  that  his  followers  often  complained  that  he  was  giving  his  case 
'  away.  But  never  in  his  prolonged  participation  in  the  proceedings  of  the 
House  did  he  give  his  case  away,  or  fail  in  the  judgment  of  competent  and 
impartial  listeners  to  gain  the  mastery. 

These  characteristics,  which  marked  Garfield  as  a  great  debater,  did  not, 
however,  make  him  a  great  parliamentary  leader.  A  parliamentary  leader,  sa 
that  term  is  understood  wherever  free  representative  government  exists,  la 
necessarily  and  very  strictly  the  organ  of  his  party.  An  ardent  American 
defined  the  instinctive  warmth  of  patriotism  when  he  oflered  the  toast:  "Our 
country  always  right ;  but  right  or  wrong,  our  country."  The  parliamentary 
leader  who  has  a  body  of  followers  that  will  do  and  dare  and  die  for  the  cause, 
is  one  who  believes  his  party  always  right ;  but  right  or  wrong,  is  for  his  party. 
No  more  important  or  exacting  duty  devolves  upon  him  than  the  selection 
of  the  field  and  the  time  for  contest.  He  must  know  not  merely  how  to 
strike,  but  where  to  strike,  and  when  to  strike.  He  often  skillfully  avoids  the 
strength  of  his  opponent's  position  and  scatters  confusion  in  his  ranks,  by  at- 
tacking an  exposed  point  when  really  the  righteousness  of  the  cause  and  the 
strength  of  logical  intrenchment  are  against  him.  He  conquers  often  both 
against  the  right  and  the  heavy  battalions;  as  when  young  Charles  Fox,  in 
the  days  of  his  Toryism,  carried  the  House  of  Commons  against  justice, 
against  its  immemoral  rights,  against  his  own  convictions,  and  in  the  interest 
of  a  corrupt  administration,  in  obedience  to  a  tyrannical  sovereign,  drove 
Wilkes  from  the  seat  to  which  the  electors  of  Middlesex  had  chosen  him  and 
installed  Luttrell  in  defiance,  not  merely  of  law,  but  of  public  decency.  For 
an  achievement  of  that  kind  Garfield  was  disqualified— disqualified  by  the 


552  LIFE  OF  JAMES  A.  GABFIELD. 

texture  of  his  mind,  by  the  honesty  of  his  heart,  by  his  conscience,  and  by 
every  instinct  and  aspiration  of  his  nature. 

The  three  most  distinguished  parliamentary  leaders  hitherto  developed  in 
this  country  are  Mr.  Clay,  Mr.  Douglas,  and  Mr.  Thaddeus  Stevens.  Each 
was  a  man  of  consummate  ability,  of  great  earnestness,  of  intense  personality, 
differing  widely,  each  from  the  others,  and  yet  with  a  signal  trait  in  common 
— the  power  to  command.  In  the  give  and  take  of  daily  discussion,  in  the  art 
of  controlling  and  consolidating  reluctant  and  refractory  followers ;  in  the 
skill  to  overcome  all  forms  of  opposition,  and  to  meet  with  competency  and 
courage  the  varying  phases  of  unlooked-for  assault  or  unsuspected  defection, 
it  would  be  difficult  to  rank  with  these  a  fourth  name  in  all  our  Congressional 
history.  But  of  these  Mr.  Clay  was  the  greatest.  It  would,  perhaps,  be  im- 
possible to  find  in  the  parliamentary  annals  of  the  world  a  parallel  to  Mr. 
Clay  iu  1841,  when  at  sixty-four  years  of  age  he  took  the  control  of  the 
Whig  party  from  the  President  who  had  received  their  suffrages,  against  the 
power  of  Webster  in  the  Cabinet,  against  the  eloquence  of  Choate  in  the 
Senate,  against  the  herculean  efforts  of  Caleb  Gushing  and  Henry  A.  Wise 
in  the  House.  In  unshared  leadership,  in  the  pride  and  plenitude  of  power, 
he  hurled  against  John  Tyler,  with  deepest  scorn,  the  mass  of  that  con- 
quering column  which  had  swept  over  the  land  in  1840  and  drove  his  ad- 
ministration to  seek  shelter  behind  the  lines  of  his  political  foes.  Mr.  Doug- 
las achieved  a  victory  scarcely  less  wonderful,  when,  in  1854,  against  the  se- 
cret desires  of  a  strong  administration,  against  the  wise  counsel  of  the  older 
chiefs,  against  the  conservative  instinct,  and  even  the  moral  sense  of  the 
country,  he  forced  a  reluctant  Congress  into  a  repeal  of  the  Missouri  comproj 
mise.  Mr.  Thaddeus  Stevens,  in  his  contests  from  1865  to  1868,  actually  ad- 
vanced his  parliamentary  leadership  until  Congress  tied  the  hands  of  the  Presi- 
dent, and  governed  the  country  by  its  own  will,  leaving  only  perfunctory  duties 
to  be  discharged  by  the  Executive.  With  $200,000,000  of  patronage  in  his  hands 
at  the  opening  of  the  contest,  aided  by  the  active  force  of  Seward  in  the  Cabinet 
and  the  moral  power  of  Chase  on  the  bench,  Andrew  Johnson  could  not  com- 
mand the  support  of  one-third  in  either  House  against  the  parliamentary  upris- 
ing of  which  Thaddeus  Stevens  was  the  animating  spirit  and  the  unquestioned 
leader. 

From  these  three  great  men  Garfield  differed  radically, — differed  in  the 
quality  of  his  mind,  in  temperament,  in  the  form  and  phase  of  ambition.  He 
could  not  do  what  they  did,  but  he  could  do  what  they  could  not,  and  in  the 
breadth  of  his  Congressional  work  he  left  that  which  will  longer  exert  a 
potential  influence  among  men,  and  which,  measured  by  the  severe  test  of 
posthumous  criticism,  will  secure  a  more  enduring  and  more  enviable  fame. 

Those  unfamiliar  with  Garfield's  industry,  and  ignorant  of  the  details  of 
his  work,  may,  in  some  degree,  measure  them  by  the  annals  of  Congress.  No 
one  of  the  generation  of  public  men  to  which  he  belonged  has  contributed  so 


ELAINE'S  EULOGY  ON  GAEFIELD.  553 

much  that  will  be  valuable  for  future  reference.  His  speeches  are  numerous, 
many  of  them  brilliant,  all  of  them  well  studied,  carefully  phrased,  and  ex- 
haustive of  the  subject  under  consideration.  Collected  from  the  scattered 
pages  of  ninety  royal  octavo  volumes  of  Congressional  Eecord,  they  would 
present  an  invaluable  compendium  of  the  political  history  of  the  most  im- 
portant era  through  which  the  national  government  has  ever  passed.  When 
the  history  of  this  period  shall  be  impartially  written,  when  war  legislation, 
measures  of  reconstruction,  protection  of  human  rights,  amendments  to  the 
Constitution,  maintenance  of  public  credit,  steps  toward  specie  resumption, 
true  theories  of  revenue  may  be  reviewed,  unsurrounded  by  prejudice  and  dis- 
connected from  partisanism,  the  speeches  of  Garfield  will  be  estimated  at  their 
true  value,  and  will  be  found  to  comprise  a  vast  magazine  of  fact  and  argu- 
ment, of  clear  analysis,  and  sound  conclusion.  Indeed,  if  no  other  authority 
were  accessible,  his  speeches  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  from  December, 
1863,  to  June,  1880,  would  give  a  well-connected  history  and  complete  defense 
of  the  important  legislation  of  the  seventeen  eventful  years  that  constitute 
his  parliamentary  life.  Far  beyond  that,  his  speeches  would  be  found  to 
forecast  many  great  measures  yet  to  be  completed — measures  which  he  knew 
were  beyond  the  public  opinion  of  the  hour,  but  which  he  confidently  believed 
would  secure  popular  approval  within  the  period  of  his  own  lifetime,  and  by 
the  aid  of  his  own  efforts. 

Differing,  as  Garfield  does,  from  the  brilliant  parliamentary  leaders,  it  is 
not  easy  to  find  his  counterpart  anywhere  in  the  records  of  public  life.  He 
perhaps  more  nearly  resembles  Mr.  Seward  in  his  supreme  faith  in  the  all- 
conquering  power  of  a  principle.  He  had  the  love  of  learning  and  the  patient 
industry  of  investigation,  to  which  John  Quincy  Adams  owes  his  prominence 
and  his  Presidency.  He  had  some  of  those  ponderous  elements  of  mind 
which  distinguished  Mr.  Webster,  and  which,  indeed,  in  all  our  public  life 
have  left  the  great  Massachusetts  Senator  without  an  intellectual  peer. 

In  English  parliamentary  history,  as  in  our  own,  the  leaders  in  the  House 
of  Commons  present  points  of  essential  difference  from  Garfield.  But  some 
of  his  methods  recall  the  best  features  in  the  strong,  independent  course  of 
Sir  Robert  Peel,  and  striking  resemblances  are  discernible  in  that  most  prom- 
ising of  modern  conservatives,  who  died  too  early  for  his  country  and  his 
fame,  the  Lord  George  Bentinck.  He  had  all  of  Burke's  love  for  the  sublime 
and  the  beautiful,  with,  possibly,  something  of  his  superabundance;  and  in 
his  faith  and  his  magnanimity,  in  his  power  of  statement,  in  his  subtle 
analvsis,  in  his  faultless  logic,  in  his  love  of  literature,  in  his  wealth  and 
world  of  illustration,  one  is  reminded  of  that  English  statesman  of  to-day, 
who  confronted  with  obstacles  that  would  daunt  any  but  the  dauntless,  re- 
viled by  those  whom  he  would  relieve  as  bitterly  as  by  those  whose  supposed 
rights  he  is  forced  to  invade,  still  labors  with  serene  courage  for  the  ameliora- 
tion of  Ireland,  and  for  the  honor  of  the  English  name. 


554  LIFE  OF  JAMES  A.  GAEFIELD. 

Garfield's  nomination  to  the  Presidency,  while  not  predicted  or  anticipated, 
was  not  a  surprise  to  the  country.  His  prominence  in  Congress,  his  solid 
qualities,  his  wide  reputation,  strengthened  by  his  then  recent  election  as 
Senator  from  Ohio,  kept  him  in  the  public  eye  as  a  man  occupying  the  very 
highest  rank  among  those  entitled  to  be  called  statesmen.  It  was  not  mere 
chance  that  brought  him  this  high  honor.  "  We  must,"  says  Mr.  Emerson, 
"  reckon  success  a  constitutional  trait.  If  Eric  is  in  robust  health  and  has 
slept  well,  and  is  at  the  top  of  his  condition,  and  thirty  years  old  at  his  de- 
parture from  Greenland,  he  will  steer  west,  and  his  ships  will  reach  New- 
foundland. But  take  Eric  out  and  put  in  a  stronger  and  bolder  man,  and 
the  ships  will  sail  600,  1,000,  1,500  miles  further  and  reach  Labrador  and  New 
England.  There  is  no  chance  in  results." 

As  a  candidate,  Garfield  steadily  grew  in  popular  favor.  He  was  met  with  a 
storm  of  detraction  at  the  very  hour  of  his  nomination,  and  it  continued  with  in- 
creasing volume  and  momentum  until  the  close  of  his  victorious  campaign : 

No  might  nor  greatness  in  mortality 
Can  censure  'scape ;  backwounding  calumny 
The  whitest  virtue  strikes.    What  king  so  strong 
Can  tie  the  gall  up  in  the  slanderous  tongue  ? 

Under  it  all  he  was  calm  and  strong,  and  confident;  never  lost  his  self- 
possession,  did  no  unwise  act,  spoke  no  hasty  or  ill-considered  word.  Indeed, 
nothing  in  his  whole  life  is  more  remarkable  or  more  creditable  than  his  bear- 
ing through  those  five  full  months  of  vituperation — a  prolonged  agony  of  trial 
to  a  sensitive  man,  a  constant  and  cruel  draft  upon  the  powers  of  moral  en- 
durance. The  great  mass  of  these  unjust  imputations  passed  unnoticed,  and 
with  the  general  d&bris  of  the  campaign  fell  into  oblivion.  But  in  a  few  in- 
stances the  iron  entered  his  soul,  and  he  died  with  the  injury  unforgotten,  if 
not  unforgiven. 

One  aspect  of  Garfield's  candidacy  was  unprecedented.  Never  before  in 
the  history  of  partisan  contests  in  this  country  had  a  successful  Presidential 
candidate  spoken  freely  on  passing  events  and  current  issues.  To  attempt  any 
thing  of  the  kind  seemed  novel,  rash,  and  even  desperate.  The  older  class 
of  voters  recalled  the  unfortunate  Alabama  letter,  in  which  Mr.  Clay  was  sup- 
posed to  have  signed  his  political  death-warrant.  They  remembered  also  the 
hot-tempered  effusion  by  which  General  Scott  lost  a  large  share  of  his  popu- 
larity before  his  nomination,  and  the  unfortunate  speeches  which  rapidly  con- 
sumed the  remainder.  The  younger  voters  had  seen  Mr.  Greeley  in  a  series 
of  vigorous  and  original  addresses,  preparing  the  pathway  for  his  own  defeat. 
Unmindful  of  these  warnings,  unheeding  the  advice  of  friends,  Garfield  spoke 
to  large  crowds  as  he  journeyed  to  and  from  New  York  in  August,  to  a  great 
multitude  in  that  city,  to  delegations  and  deputations  of  every  kind  that 
called  at  Mentor  during  the  summer  and  autumn.  With  innumerable  critics, 
watchful  and  eager  to  catch  a  phrase  that  might  be  turned  into  odium  or 


ELAINE'S  EULOGY  ON  GAKFIELD.          555 

ridicule,  or  a  sentence  that  might  be  distorted  to  his  own  or  his  party's  injury, 
Garfield  did  not  trip  or  halt  in  any  one  of  his  seventy  speeches.  This  seems 
all  the  more  remarkable  when  it  is  remembered  that  he  did  not  write  what  he 
said,  and  yet  spoke  with  such  logical  consecutiveness  of  thought  and  such  ad- 
mirable precision  of  phrase  as  to  defy  the  accident  of  misreport  and  the 
malignity  of  misrepresentation. 

In  the  beginning  of  his  Presidential  life  Garfield's  experience  did  not  yield 
him  pleasure  or  satisfaction.  The  duties  that  engross  so  large  a  portion  of 
the  President's  time  were  distasteful  to  him,  and  were  unfavorably  contrasted 
with  his  legislative  work.  "  I  have  been  dealing  all  these  years  with  ideas," 
he  impatiently  exclaimed  one  day,  "and  here  I  am  dealing  only  with  persons. 
I  have  been  heretofore  treating  of  the  fundamental  principles  of  government, 
and  here  I  am  considering  all  day  whether  A  or  B  shall  be  appointed  to  this 
or  that  office."  He  was  earnestly  seeking  some  practicable  way  of  correcting 
the  evils  arising  from  the  distribution  of  overgrown  and  unwieldly  patronage — 
evils  always  appreciated  and  often  discussed  by  him,  but  whose  magnitude 
had  been  more  deeply  impressed  upon  his  mind  since  his  accession  to  the 
Presidency.  Had  he  lived,  a  comprehensive  improvement  in  the  mode  of 
appointment  and  in  the  tenure  of  office  would  have  been  proposed  by  him, 
and,  with  the  aid  of  Congress,  no  doubt  perfected. 

But  while  many  of  the  executive  duties  were  not  grateful  to  him,  he  was 
assiduous  and  conscientious  in  their  discharge.  From  the  very  outset  he  ex- 
hibited administrative  talent  of  a  high  order.  He  grasped  the  helm  of  office 
with  the  hand  of  a  master.  In  this  respect,  indeed,  he  constantly  surprised 
many  who  were  most  intimately  associated  with  him  in  the  government,  and 
especially  those  who  had  feared  that  he  might  be  lacking  in  the  executive 
faculty.  His  disposition  of  business  was  orderly  and  rapid.  His  power  of 
analysis,  and  his  skill  in  classification,  enabled  him  to  dispatch  a  vast  mass 
of  detail  with  singular  promptness  and  ease.  His  cabinet  meetings  were  ad- 
mirably conducted.  His  clear  presentation  of  official  subjects,  his  well  con- 
sidered suggestion  of  topics  on  which  discussion  was  invited,  his  quick  decision 
when  all  had  been  heard,  combined  to. show  a  thoroughness  of  mental  training 
as  rare  as  his  natural  ability  and  his  facile  adaptation  to  a  new  and  enlarged 
field  of  labor. 

With  perfect  comprehension  of  all  the  inheritances  of  the  war,  with  a  cool 
calculation  of  the  obstacles  in  his  way,  impelled  always  by  a  generous  en- 
thusiasm, Garfield  conceived  that  much  might  be  done  by  his  administration 
toward  restoring  harmony  between  the  different  sections  of  the  Union.  He 
was  anxious  to  go  South  and  speak  to  the  people.  As  early  as  April  he  had 
ineffectually  endeavored  to  arrange  for  a  trip  to  Nashville,  whither  he  had 
been  cordially  invited,  and  he  was  again  disappointed  a  few  weeks  later  to- 
find  that  he  could  not  go  to  South  Carolina  to  attend  the  centennial  celebra- 
tion of  the  victory  of  the  Cowpens.  But  for  the  autumn  he  definitely  counted 


556  LIFE  OF  JAMES  A.  GAEFIELD. 

on  being  present  at  three  memorable  assemblies  in  the  South — the  celebration 
at  Yorktown,  the  opening  of  the  Cotton  Exposition  at  Atlanta,  and  the  meet- 
ing of  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland  at  Chattanooga.  He  was  already  turning 
over  in  his  mind  his  address  for  each  occasion,  and  the  three  taken  together, 
he  said  to  a  friend,  gave  him  the  exact  scope  and  verge  which  he  needed.  At 
Yorktown  he  would  have  before  him  the  associations  of  a  hundred  years  that 
bound  the  South  and  North  in  the  sacred  memory  of  a  common  danger  and  a 
common  victory.  At  Atlanta  he  would  present  the  material  interests  and  the 
industrial  development  which  appealed  to  the  thrift  and  independence  of 
every  household,  and  which  should  unite  the  two  sections  by  the  instinct 
of  self-interest  and  self-defense.  At  Chattanooga  he  would  revive  mem- 
ories of  the  war  only  to  show  that  after  all  its  disaster  and  all  its  suffering, 
the  country  was  stronger  and  greater,  the  Union  rendered  indissoluble,  and 
the  future,  through  the  agony  and  blood  of  one  generation;  made  brighter 
and  better  for  all. 

Garfield's  ambition  for  the  success  of  his  administration  was  high.  With 
strong  caution  and  conservatism  in  his  nature,  he  was  in  no  danger  of  attempt- 
ing rash  experiments  or  of  resorting  to  the  empiricism  of  statesmanship.  But 
he  believed  that  renewed  and  closer  attention  should  be  given  to  questions 
affecting  the  material  interests  and  commercial  prospects  of  50,000,000  of  peo- 
ple. He  believed  that  our  continental  relations,  extensive  and  undeveloped 
as  they  are,  involved  responsibility,  and  could  be  cultivated  into  profitable 
friendship  or  be  abandoned  to  harmful  indifference  or  lasting  enmity.  He  be- 
lieved with  equal  confidence  that  an  essential  forerunner  to  a  new  era  of  na- 
tional progress  must  he  a  feeling  of  contentment  in  every  section  of  the 
Union,  and  a  generous  belief  that  the  benefits  and  burdens  of  government 
would  be  common  to  all.  Himself  a  conspicuous  illustration  of  what  ability 
and  ambition  may  do  under  republican  institutions,  he  loved  his  country  with 
a  passion  of  patriotic  devotion,  and  every  waking  thought  was  given  to  her 
advancement.  He  was  an  American  in  all  his  aspirations,  and  he  looked  to 
the  destiny  and  influence  of  the  United  States  with  the  philosophic  composure 
of  Jefferson  and  the  demonstrative  confidence  of  John  Adams. 

The  political  events  which  disturbed  the  President's  serenity  for  many 
weeks  before  that  fateful  day  in  July  form  an  important  chapter  in  his  career, 
and,  in  his  own  judgment,  involved  questions  of  principle  and  of  right 
which  are  vitally  essential  to  the  constitutional  administration  of  the  Fed- 
eral Government.  It  would  be  out  of  place  here  and  now  to  speak  the  lan- 
guage of  controversy,  but  the  events  referred  to,  however  they  may  continue 
to  be  a  source  of  contention  with  others,  have  become,  so  far  as  Garfield  is 
concerned,  as  much  a  matter  of  history  as  his  heroism  at  Chickamauga  or  his 
illustrious  service  in  the  House.  Detail  is  not  needful,  and  personal  antago- 
nism shall  not  be  rekindled  by  any  word  uttered  to-day.  The  motives  of 
those  opposing  him  are  not  to  be  here  adversely  interpreted,  nor  their  course 


ELAINE'S  EULOGY  ON  GAEFIELD.  557 

harshly  characterized.  But  of  the  dead  President  this  is  to  be  said,  and  said 
because  his  own  speech  is  forever  silenced,  and  he  can  be  no  more  heard  ex- 
cept through  the  fidelity  and  love  of  surviving  friends:  From  the  beginning 
to  the  end  of  the  controversy  he  so  much  deplored,  the  President  was  never  for 
one  moment  actuated  by  any  motive  of  gain  to  himself  or  of  loss  to  others. 
Least  of  all  men  dfd  he  harbor  revenge,  rarely  did  he  ever  show  resentment, 
and  malice  was  not  in  his  nature.  He  was  congenially  employed  only  in  the 
exchange  of  good  offices  and  the  doing  of  kindly  deeds. 

There  was  not  an  hour,  from  the  beginning  of  the  trouble  till  the  fatal  shot 
entered  his  body,  when  the  President  would  not  gladly,  for  the  sake  of  restor- 
ing harmony,  have  retraced  any  step  he  had  taken  if  such  retracing  had 
merely  involved  consequences  personal  to  himself.  The  pride  of  consistency, 
or  any  sense  of  supposed  humiliation  that  might  result  from  surrendering  his 
position,  had  not  a  feather's  weight  with  him.  No  man  was  ever  less  subject 
to  such  influences  from  within  or  from  without.  But  after  most  anxious  de- 
liberation, and  the  coolest  survey  of  all  the  circumstances,  he  solemnly  believed 
that  the  true  prerogatives  of  the  Executive  were  involved  in  the  issue  which 
had  been  raised,  and  that  he  would  be  unfaithful  to  his  supreme  obligation  if 
he  failed  to  maintain  in  all  their  vigor  the  constitutional  rights  and  dignities 
of  his  great  office.  He  believed  this  in  all  the  convictions  of  conscience  when 
in  sound  and  vigorous  health,  and  he  believed  it  in  his  suffering  and  prostra- 
tion in  the  last  conscious  thought  which  his  wearied  mind  bestowed  on  the 
transitory  struggles  of  life. 

More  than  this  need  not  be  said.  Less  than  this  could  not  be  said.  Jus- 
tice to  the  dead,  the  highest  obligation  that  devolves  upon  the  living,  demands 
the  declaration  that,  in  all  the  bearings  of  the  subject,  actual  or  possible,  the 
President  was  content  in  his  mind,  justified  in  his  conscience,  immovable  in 
his  conclusions. 

The  religious  element  in  Garfield's  character  was  deep  and  earnest.  In 
his  early  youth  he  espoused  the  faith  of  the  Disciples,  a  sect  of  that  great 
Baptist  communion  which,  in  different  ecclesiastical  establishments,  is 
so  numerous  and  so  influential  throughout  all  parts  of  the  United  States. 
But  the  broadening  tendency  of  his  mind  and  his  active  spirit  of  inquiry  were 
early  apparent,  and  carried  him  beyond  the  dogmas  of  sect  and  the  restraints 
of  association.  In  selecting  a  college  in  which  to  continue  his  education,  he 
rejected  Bethany,  though  presided  over  by  Alexander  Campbell,  the  greatest 
preacher  of  his  Church.  His  reasons  were  characteristic  :  first,  that  Bethany 
leaned  too  heavily  toward  slavery ;  and,  second,  that  being  himself  a  Disciple, 
and  the  son  of  Disciple  parents,  he  had  but  little  acquaintance  with  people  of 
other  beliefs,  and  he  thought  it  would  make  him  more  liberal,  quoting  his  own 
words,  both  in  his  religious  and  general  views,  to  go  into  a  new  circle  and  be 
under  new  influences. 

The  liberal  tendency  which   he  anticipated  as  the  result  of  wider  cult- 


558  LIFE  OF  JAMES  A.  GAKFIELD. 

ure  was  fully  realized.  He  was  emancipated  from  mere  sectarian  belief, 
and  with  eager  interest  pushed  his  investigations  in  the  direction  of  modern 
progressive  thought.  He  followed  with  quickening  step  in  the  paths  of  ex- 
ploration and  speculation  so  fearlessly  trodden  by  Darwin,  by  Huxley,  by 
Tyndall,  and  by  other  living  scientists  of  the  radical  and  advanced  type. 
His  own  Church,  binding  its  disciples  by  no  formulated  creed,  but  accepting 
the  Old  and  New  Testaments  as  the  Word  of  God  with  unbiased  liberality  of 
private  interpretation,  favored,  if  it  did  not  stimulate,  the  spirit  of  investiga- 
tion. Its  members  profess  with  sincerity,  and  profess  only,  to  be  of  one  mind 
and  one  faith  with  those  who  immediately  followed  the  Master,  and  who 
were  first  called  Christians  at  Antioch. 

But  however  high  Garfield  reasoned  of  "fixed  fate,  free  will,  foreknowl- 
edge absolute,"  he  was  never  separated  from  the  Church  of  the  Disciples  in 
his . affections  and  in  his  associations.  For  him  it  held  the  ark  of  the  cov- 
enant. To  him  it  was  the  gate  of  heaven.  The  world  of  religious  belief  is 
full  of  solecisms  and  contradictions.  A  philosophic  observer  declares  that 
men  by  the  thousand  will  die  in  defense  of  a  creed  whose  doctrines  they  do 
not  comprehend,  and  whose  tenets  they  habitually  violate.  It  is  equally 
true  that  men,  by  the  thousand,  will  cling  to  church  organizations  with  in- 
stinctive and  undying  fidelity  when  their  belief,  in  maturer  years,  is  radically 
different  from  that  which  inspired  them  as  neophytes. 

But  after  this  range  of  speculation,  and  this  latitude  of  doubt,  Garfield 
came  back  always  with  freshness  and  delight  to  the  simpler  instincts  of  re- 
ligious faith,  which,  earliest  implanted,  longest  survive.  Not  many  weeks 
before  his  assassination,  walking  on  the  banks  of  the  Potomac  with  a  friend, 
and  conversing  on  those  topics  of  personal  religion,  concerning  which  noble 
natures  have  an  unconquerable  reserve,  he  said  that  he  found  the  Lord's 
Prayer,  and  the  simple  petitions  learned  in  infancy,  infinitely  restful  to  him, 
not  merely  in  their  stated  repetition,  but  in  their  casual  and  frequent  recall  as 
he  went  about  the  daily  duties  of  life.  Certain  texts  of  Scripture  had  a  very 
strong  hold  on  his  memory  and  his  heart.  He  heard,  while  in  Edinburgh, 
some  years  ago,  an  eminent  Scotch  preacher  who  prefaced  his  sermon  with 
reading  the  eighth  chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  which  book  had  been 
the  subject  of  careful  study  with  Garfield  during  all  his  religious  life.  He 
was  greatly  impressed  by  the  elocution  of  the  preacher,  and  declared  that  it 
had  imparted  a  new  and  deeper  meaning  to  the  majestic  utterances  of  St. 
Paul.  He  referred  often,  in  after  years,  to  that  memorable  service,  and  dwelt 
with  exaltation  of  feeling  upon  the  radiant  promise  and  the  assured  hope  with 
which  the  great  apostle  of  the  Gentiles  was  "  persuaded  that  neither  death, 
nor  life,  nor  angels,  nor  principalities,  nor  powers,  nor  things  present,  nor 
things  to  come,  nor  height,  nor  depth,  nor  any  other  creature,  shall  be  able  to 
separate  us  from  the  love  of  God,  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord." 
The  crowning  characteristics  of  General  Garfield's  religious  opinions,  as, 


ELAINE'S  EULOGY  ON  GAEFIELD.  559 

indeed,  of  all  his  opinions,  was  his  liberality.  In  all  things  he  had  charity. 
Tolerance  was  of  his  nature.  He  respected  in  others  the  qualities  which  he 
possessed  himself — sincerity  of  conviction  and  frankness  of  expression.  With 
him  the  inquiry  was  not  so  much  what  a  man  believes,  but  does  he  believe  it? 
The  lines  of  his  friendship  and  his  confidence  encircled  men  of  every  creed, 
and  men  of  no  creed  ;  and  to  the  end  of  his  life,  on  his  ever-lengthening  list 
of  friends,  were  to  be  found  the  names  of  a  pious  Catholic  priest  and  of  an 
honest-minded  and  generous-hearted  freethinker 

On  the  morning  of  Saturday,  July  2,  the  President  was  a  contented  and 
happy  man — not  in  an  ordinary  degree,  bu-t  joyfully,  almost  boyishly  happy. 
On  his  way  to  the  railroad  station,  to  which  he  drove  slowly,  in  conscious 
enjoyment  of  the  beautiful  morning,  with  an  unwonted  sense  of  leisure  and  a 
keen  anticipation  of  pleasure,  his  talk  was  all  in  the  grateful  and  gratulatory 
vein.  He  felt  that  after  four  months  of  trial  his  administration  was  strong  in 
its  grasp  of  affairs,  strong  in  popular  favor,  and  destined  to  grow  stronger ; 
that  grave  difficulties  confronting  him  at  his  inauguration  had  been  safely 
passed;  that  trouble  lay  behind  him  and  not  before  him  ;  that  he  was  soon  to 
meet  the  wife  whom  he  loved,  now  recovering  from  an  illness  which  had  but 
lately  disquieted  and  at  times  almost  unnerved  him ;  that  he  was  going  to  his 
Alma  Mater  to  renew  the  most  cherished  associations  of  his  young  manhood, 
and  to  exchange  greetings  with  those  whose  deepening  interest  had  followed 
every  step  of  his  upward  progress  from  the  day  he  entered  upon  his  college 
course  until  he  had  attained  the  loftiest  elevation  in  the  gift  of  his  country- 
men. 

Surely  if  happiness  can  ever  come  from  the  honors  or  triumphs  of  this 
world,  on  that  quiet  July  morning,  James  A.  Garfield  may  well  have  been  a 
happy  man.  No  foreboding  of  evil  haunted  him ;  no  slightest  premonition 
of  danger  clouded  his  sky.  His  terrible  fate  was  upon  him  in  an  instant 
One  moment  he  stood  erect,  strong,  confident,  in  the  years  stretching  peace- 
fully out  before  him.  The  next  he  lay  wounded,  bleeding,  helpless,  doomed 
to  weary  weeks  of  torture,  to  silence,  and  the  grave. 

Great  in  life,  he  was  surpassingly  great  in  death.  For  no  cause,  in  the 
very  frenzy  of  wantonness  and  wickedness,  by  the  red  hand  of  murder,  he 
was  thrust  from  the  full  tide  of  this  world's  interest,  from  its  hopes,  its  aspi- 
rations, its  victories,  into  the  visible  presence  of  death — and  he  did  not  quail. 
Not  alone  for  the  one  short  moment  in  which,  stunned  and  dazed,  he  could 
give  up  life,  hardly  aware  of  its  relinquishment,  but  through  days  of  deadly 
languor,  through  weeks  of  agony,  that  was  not  less  agony  because  silently 
borne,  with  clear  sight  and  calm  courage,  he  looked  into  his  open  grave. 
What  blight  and  ruin  met  his  anguished  eyes,  whose  lips  may  tell ! — What 
brilliant  broken  plans !  what  baffled,  high  ambitions!  what  sundering  of  strong, 
warm,  manhood's  friendships !  what  bitter  rending  of  sweet  household  ties ! 
Behind  him  a  proud,  expectant  nation,  a  great  host  of  sustaining  friends,  a 


560  LIFE  OF  JAMES  A.  GAEFIELD. 

cherished  and  happy  mother,  wearing  the  full,  rich  honors  of  her  early  toil 
and  tears ;  the  wife  of  his  youth,  whose  whole  life  lay  in  his ;  the  little  boys 
not  yet  emerged  from  childhood's  day  of  frolic;  the  fair,  young  daughter; 
the  sturdy  sons  just  springing  into  closest  companionship,  claiming  every  day 
and  every  day  rewarding  a  father's  love  and  care ;  and  in  his  heart  the  eager, 
rejoicing  power  to  meet  all  demand.  Before  him  desolation  and  great  dark- 
ness! And  his  soul  was  not  shaken.  His  countrymen  were  thrilled  with 
instant,  profound,  and  universal  sympathy.  Masterful  in  his  mortal  weak- 
ness, he  became  the  center  of  a  nation's  love,  enshrined  in  the  prayers  of  a 
world.  But  all  the  love  and  all  the  sympathy  could  not  share  with  him  his 
suffering.  He  trod  the  winepress  alone.  With  unfaltering  front  he  faced 
death.  With  unfailing  tenderness  he  took  leave  of  life.  Above  the  demoniac 
hiss  of  the  assassin's  bullet  he  heard  the  voice  of  God.  With  simple  resigna- 
tion he  bowed  to  the  divine  decree. 

As  the  end  drew  near,  his  early  craving  for  the  sea  returned.  The  stately 
mansion  of  power  had  been  to  him  the  wearisome  hospital  of  pain,  and  he 
begged  to  be  taken  from  its  prison  walls,  from  its  oppressive,  stifling  air,  from 
its  homelessness  and  its  hopelessness.  Gently,  silently,  the  love  of  a  great 
people  bore  the  pale  sufferer  to  the  longed-for  healing  of  the  sea,  to  live  or  to 
die,  as  God  should  will,  within  sight  of  its  heaving  billows,  within  sound  of 
its  manifold  voices,  with  wan,  fevered  face  tenderly  lifted  to  the  cooling  breeze, 
he  looked  out  wistfully  upon  the  ocean's  changing  wonders, — on  its  far  sails, 
whitening  in  the  morning  light ;  on  its  restless  waves,  rolling  shoreward  to 
break  and  die  beneath  the  noonday  sun ;  on  the  red  clouds  of  evening,  arch- 
ing low  to  the  horizon ;  on  the  serene  and  shining  pathway  of  the  stars.  Let 
us  think  that  his  dying  eyes  read  a  mystic  meaning  which  only  the  rapt 
and  parting  soul  may  know.  Let  us  believe  that  in  the  silence  of  the  reced- 
ing world  he  heard  the  great  waves  breaking  on  a  farther  shore,  and  felt 
already  upon  his  wasted  brow  the  breath  of  the  eternal  morning. 


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